Overwatch is no stranger to seasonal events. Ever since the first Summer Games event in 2016, Blizzard has provided various annual themed events that add new cosmetics and modes into the game. This year, with the 2021 Year of the Ox event, Blizzard has asked its concept artists to explain the inspiration behind some of the new character skins added to the game.
The first time Overwatch introduced a Lunar New Year event was back in January 2017 when it was the Year of the Rooster. With this new event came the introduction of the Capture the Flag mode, which has seen various iterations since its induction.
The biggest appeal of the seasonal events for many is the addition of several new cosmetics to the game, and in particular Legendary character skins. This year, five characters received new legendary skins: Ashe, Widowmaker, Orisa, Bastion, and Echo. Overwatch concept artists David Kang and Tim Guo explained on Overwatch‘s website what the inspiration behind two of these skins were.
The new Ashe skin is taken from the Korean tale “Dangun.” According to Kang, the story centers around a tiger and a bear who wish to become human. The gods told the bear and the tiger that in order to become human, they were to eat only garlic and mugwort and stay out of the sun for 100 days. The bear succeeded in this task, but the tiger did not. Ashe’s new skin reflects this in that her costume has bear-inspired elements on it such as the paws on her shoulders, though Ashe herself is human. Her companion B.O.B., meanwhile, is an anthropomorphic tiger.
Guo explained that Widowmaker’s new skin, is inspired by a Chinese folk tale known as “The Legend of the White Snake.” In the tale, a snake spirit takes on the form of a woman named Bai Suzhen. Guo thinks this character is a perfect fit for Widowmaker as she, like Bai Suzhen, is both deadly and beautiful. Widowmaker’s skin also has a jade bracelet, which Guo explains is there to reference the green snake companion that Bai Suzhen has in the tale.
It’s clear the artists working on Overwatch have not gotten lax about their work in designing new cosmetics, as four years later their skins are still heavily inspired. Ashe and Widowmaker fans will no doubt be vying for these new skins before they become unavailable until the next Lunar New Year event.
Overwatch is a available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
Source: Overwatch
![\"IT電腦補習](\"http://itteacheritfreelance.hk/test/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/logo2-2.png\"){kind=logo}
www.itsec.hk
www.itsec.vip
www.itseceu.uk
Leave a Reply