The recent revamp of Overwatch was a resounding success for Blizzard, with all-time high Steam player counts, renewed player interest and positive reception to their wealth of gameplay tweaks. One of the most significant changes was the addition of five new heroes, with a fan favorite being Anran. However, her reveal was also met with much pushback, as her character model looked significantly different from her existing appearance in other Overwatch media and far more similar to existing characters like Kiriko.
Now though, the official Overwatch social media accounts just shared a new look at the updated Anran model to better reflect their original creative vision for her character. The most significant changes can be seen with her eyes, jaw and lips, with her look now appearing sharper, more confident and also more expressive with her eyebrows. The changes to her visuals also make her look more similar to her in-game brother Wuyang, with their eye shapes and face shading now far closer in similarity, as you can see below.
As explained by Overwatch director Aaron Keller, they wanted Anran to look less “innocent and playful” and instead come across as more “confident, determined and fierce.” This lines up with her existing appearances in Overwatch‘s extended lore, such as the comics, where Anran is a strong leader and defensive protector of her brother. Keller says the team “moved away from the baby-faced look”, along with a change to her posture in the character selection menu to better express her personality.
The updated Anran model will be available when Season 2 starts on April 14. There will also be a new hero arriving in Season 2, but this yet unnamed ‘Hero 51’ is still awaiting a full reveal. Whilst Overwatch already added five new heroes in their February revamp, there are an additional five still to come throughout the rest of the year, for a total of ten new heroes releasing in 2026. That’s a lot of heroes, but as any Overwatch fan would know, the world could always use more.
