Following a wave of backlash in February, Blizzard finally revealed the new redesigned look for Anran scheduled to arrive with Season 2 in Overwatch. It’s been a busy couple of months for Blizzard, with Overwatch experiencing a massive boost in engagement and player numbers thanks to the recent overhaul. In fact, Season 1 is quickly coming to an end and the company is already teasing some major additions coming very soon.
In 2026, Overwatch entered a new era as Blizzard removed the “2” from the title and largely overhauled the experience to focus on narrative, adding new sub-rolls to heroes, an improved UI, reworks, and the addition of 10 total heroes throughout the year. The changes proved to be very successful as Overwatch experienced a massive surge of players during the start of Season 1. The refresh has seemingly remained popular with players and now Season 2 is on the horizon with even more updates and content additions to look forward to.
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Overwatch Reveals Anran’s New Look
In a new post, Overwatch creative director Aaron Keller teases the start of Season 2, including a brand-new look for the damage character, Anran. After her reveal back in February, fan backlash erupted over what appeared to be changes to her face, with many indicating that Anran looked very similar to other characters like Brigette or Kiriko. In fact, even Anran’s voice actor Fareeha Yue Andersen put out a video calling for changes to get her closer to her more mature look in the Overwatch Elemental Kin comic.
The criticism clearly made it to Blizzard, as Overwatch creative director Aaron Keller confirmed changes were coming to Anran. With Season 2 on approach, Anran’s visual redesign is finally happening, with Keller detailing what’s new. In order to better match her personality of being confident and fierce, Blizzard indicated that it moved away from the baby-face style look and expression by giving Anran’s eyes a more focused look, a slightly wider smile and mouth, raising her eyebrows, and giving her a slightly darker shading and freckles. They also adjusted her posture slightly to give her a more confident pose.
Reactions appear to be slightly mixed, with many appreciating the changes, while others didn’t think they went far enough. However, Fareeha did respond to the post as well, thanking the team for making the changes, the community for voicing their feedback, and expressing gratitude that the character looks much more like the “the strong older sibling we knew her to be!”
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)
Anran’s changes appear to be only the tip of the iceberg for Season 2 and Overwatch‘s continued comeback efforts. Players are going to be getting a new Tank hero in Overwatch when Season 2 rolls around, the 6th new character to join the roster since the relaunch. Details are slim, though Blizzard did confirm that a new trailer would be revealed on April 8 to help kick off the next Overwatch chapter.
- Released
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August 10, 2023
- ESRB
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Teen / Violence, Blood, Mild Language, Use of Tobacco, Users Interact, In-Game Purchases (Includes Random Items)
