New gunslinging Overwatch hero announced at BlizzCon 2018

Blizzard Entertainment’s annual convention was jam-packed with reveals across all of its game titles, including new game content for Overwatch.

BlizzCon 2018’s opening ceremony served as a beloved roll call for all of Blizzard’s familiar franchises, and each had their own exciting news to share among the roaring crowd of fans. For Overwatch, it meant the unveiling of a new cinematic short and a brand new hero.

Jesse McCree, the cigar-smoking gunslinger, is the main subject of the new animated video. We see him at the rundown diner on Route 66, nonchalantly enjoying a slice of apple pie as a train explodes and careens off the tracks just overhead.

He exits the diner amidst rubble and dust to the Route 66 players are familiar with, and confronts a gang of outlaws called the Deadlock Rebels.

The leader of the Deadlock Rebels, a striking women with signature bright red lips, proceeds to lead her squad through a fight against McCree as they try to keep the bounty from their train heist. Predictably, however, McCree is just too good a shot. The video ends with McCree reviving an elegant white robot, which emerges gracefully from the crate she had been held in.

Jeff Kaplan, lead designer of Overwatch, came out onto the Overwatch stage and voiced many of the questions fans had after the unveiling of the animated short. By far the most prominent concerned which of the new characters seen in the video would be the next new Overwatch hero.

The answer ended up being the leader of the Rebels herself, Ashe.

At first blush, Ashe looks like a character that’d be very similar to McCree. Her ability set, however, is clearly different. Instead of a revolver, her main weapon is a semi-automatic rifle. Her alternate fire, called Coach Gun, seems like a powerful blast from a shotgun that pushes enemies back. She also as a ranged attack called Dynamite, where she literally throws a stack of dynamite into her opponents.

But her coolest move by far is her ultimate ability, where she summons a charming, mustachioed omnic robot onto the battlefield. Introduced in the cinematic short as her sidekick, B.O.B. charges into opponents and fires at enemies with his arm guns.

Kaplan did not mention when players can expect Ashe (and B.O.B.) to hit test servers in his opening presentation. However, there’s still a whole weekend to go for BlizzCon, and we’re sure there will be more information to come.