Blizzard did a major overhaul on pretty much all aspects of its hero shooter game Overwatch, kicking off an all new Season 1: Conquest this Tuesday with five new characters and a brand new storyline — and major backlash to boot.
One of the new characters — damage hero Anran (who’s actually Season 18 Wuyang’s older sister) — is already getting a major visual overhaul on her character design due to fan criticism accusing the American publisher of pulling the “Same Face Syndrome” with her. Things got even more complicated as Anran’s own voice actor — Fareeha — voiced her support to the community, not the company, in a video published on her TikTok page.
For context: “Same Face Syndrome” might be more commonly used in Overwatch circles, but it has been around for ages. Essentially, it means characters that share all too similar facial structures and proportions, changing only details like the hair, eye color, or outfits.
In Overwatch-speak, this has been the case with characters like Tracer, Juno, Kiriko and, at least now and for now, Anran. But for the latter, Blizzard has promised revision and change:
“The team is currently discussing what it will take to make Anran look and feel more like the fierce older sister that we all envision her to be,” Game Director Aaron Keller stated. “We’re so proud of the work that our team has put into Anran and the rest of the five heroes launching in Season 1, and we agree that she can be even better if we get this aspect of her right in game.”
Still quoting the director, the changes planned should come early in Season 1, so we probably will hear (or rather, see) about them soon.
We already went into detail on what this Overwatch overhaul entails, but since the patch notes are all live, we might as well do a quick summary:
Overwatch changes everything: here’s what you need to know
- New Title Era: Blizzard is officially dropping the “2” from “Overwatch 2”, reverting the game to “Overwatch” to mark a new chapter and a major content change starting today, February 10th.
- Five-Hero Launch: Season 1 introduces an unprecedented five new playable heroes simultaneously: Domina (Tank), Emre (Damage), Anran (Damage), Mizuki (Support), and the long-requested Jetpack Cat (Support). Blizzard has promised another batch of five somewhere down the pipeline, but did not commit to any final dates.
- Narrative Arc: The update kicks off a year-long storyline titled “The Reign of Talon,” which focuses on the villainous organization emerging from the shadows under the new leadership of Vendetta.
- Subrole System: All heroes are being categorized into ten new “Subroles” (such as Bruiser, Tactician, and Flanker), each granting a unique passive ability designed to refine and specialize their gameplay style.
- Expanded Roadmap: Blizzard confirmed a commitment to release a total of 10 new heroes throughout 2026, with the remaining five characters scheduled to launch one per season following the initial wave.
- Cosmetic and Event Updates: Season 1 features a collaboration with Hello Kitty and Friends, a competitive rank reset, the return of 3D post-match accolades, and multiple new Mythic skins for Mercy, Juno, and Mei.
Further details can be found on Overwatch’s blog. The game — with the new Season 1: Conquest — is available for Switch, Switch 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S and X, and it features full cross-platform play.
