Incredible Overwatch Wildebeest design brings an old hero back to life

One of the earliest Overwatch character designs that never saw the light of day, has finally been brought to life in an extraordinary way with a new player design.

Long before Blizzard revealed its popular hero shooter, ‘Prometheus’ and ‘Titan’ were code names used internally for earlier projects that led to Overwatch. Many of these projects featured characters that the community knows and loves today, however one significant design never quite made the final cut.

The hulking Wildebeest has finally been given new life as one player took it upon themselves to create a game-ready model of the hero.

As the development team transitioned to Overwatch, Wildebeest was utilized as an early form of concept art for the Tank that we know today as Reinhardt. An enormous figure with an intimidating frame, early concept art shows the character wielding a wide array of melee weapons in battle.

The brand new iteration builds upon the original red and yellow theme but introduces a new look with spiked hair. The huge figure loads into battle with a shield on its left arm and a club for the melee weapon, eerily similar to Reinhardt.

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Designed from the ground up to match the art style of Overwatch, 3D modeler Andrew Downs even animated the figure, giving Wildebeest its own play of the game intro.

“This was one of my longer projects,” they explained. “I spent more time in the blockout stages to ensure I captured the silhouette correctly.”

With such attention to detail, everything from the boots to the shoulder plates have been custom-made for Wildebeest 

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A unique design that hasn’t quite been replicated in Overwatch thus far, there’s no telling how a melee-based tank with a solo shield might work. While Reinhardt is able to take care of his entire team, an individual shield could provide some interesting new dynamics.

You can view and interact with the full 3D model through Andrew Downs ArtStation profile. With the character fully rendered, the only thing left to bring to the table is an ability set. 

Though, perhaps that’s not far off, given how much detail went into bringing Wildebeest back to life.