Sorjourn has been a relatively big part of Overwatch and after being briefly hinted at in past events, she was more fully unveiled as Overwatch 2 was revealed in November 2019. But not much was known about her, which is partly due to how Blizzard Entertainment hadn’t shown much about the sequel. But as a part of the studio’s new push toward transparency, Blizzard released a trailer for Sojourn and held a livestream talking about her backstory and abilities.
The trailer shows the Canadian hero using her railgun and cybernetics. She’s got a hitscan assault rifle (like Soldier 76) that also acts as a railgun. The hitscan shots build up energy that the railgun, the secondary fire, shoots. One of her abilities is a disruptor shot that slows down and damages enemies caught within its field of effect. Since it slows down foes, it works well with her railgun as it gives her more time to snipe targets. Her cybernetic legs mean she can slide around, which can also be canceled and used for a high hop. It is useful for getting the jump one the enemy team or fleeing from them.
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Her ultimate ability automatically charges her railgun and lets her shots go through multiple enemies. Blizzard said it wanted to reward skill and accuracy with this ability and have it be like a hitscan version of Genji’s ultimate that can lead to big, skill-based plays.
Sojourn is not only a big deal since she is the first new hero confirmed for Overwatch 2, but she’s also important since she is the first playable Black woman in the game, an absence that Blizzard has caught flak for since Overwatch‘s launch. Art Director Dion Rogers spoke about the importance of adding her to the game, saying how they looked at characters that Angela Bassett has played in the past as well as Regina King’s Angela Abar in HBO’s Watchmen series for inspiration.
Rogers acknowledged that it took so long to develop her because Blizzard didn’t want her inclusion to feel “random.” The team wanted to take its time making sure she was done correctly and that she would have a big splash when she would hit the game, which should be in the game’s upcoming beta.
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