Overwatch 2 devs reveal Orisa had a “totally different” redesign in sequel

Overwatch 2’s beta is almost here and in the build-up to its release, Blizzard developers have revealed tons of new information about reworked heroes and how they were originally modified for the sequel.

Despite Overwatch 2 only having one new hero, Sojourn, the game will feature several reworked heroes including Doomfist and Orisa.

While Doomfist has been changed drastically, swapping roles from DPS to tank, Orisa’s rework has completely revamped her kit with several of her abilities replaced.

However, as it turns out, Orisa could have been a lot different in Overwatch 2 and the design Blizzard decided to go with differs drastically from the ones they had originally considered.

Orisa’s original Overwatch 2 reworks revealed

Speaking with GLHF, senior hero designer Brandon Brennan explained how there were some very ambitious Orisa redesigns planned, but ultimately time and money resulted in the kit we see in Overwatch 2.

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“Some of our early discussions, we were talking about completely changing her model, getting away from the horse/centaur aspect. Doing a totally different design,” Brennan said. “Doing that is a huge production cost – we would be basically throwing away all this work we already put into Orisa. But we did seriously consider it.”

According to the developer, the team had three or four “totally different” bipedal designs for Orisa. In one, she was carrying a shield and looked “very tribal,” but ultimately the team went with a similar design to the one we know.

“We stayed away from it because of the production costs but also there are some unanswered questions with how players would respond to something like that. Do we have to leave the old Orisa in the game for them to play?” Brennan pondered. “Is it something we bring back in custom game modes and whatnot for them? It felt more correct to go the direction we did than to chase a totally new hero.”

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You can try out all the Overwatch 2 hero changes, including Orisa’s, for yourself once the beta goes live on April 26, so be sure to sign up today for your chance to partake.