Rumor: New Overwatch Character to be Revealed on Monday

Will Sombra come out from the shadows?

By Joe Skrebels

Rumours are swirling that a new Overwatch animated short could see the reveal of an upcoming new playable character for Blizzard's shooter.

A French cinema chain - which will be screening Overwatch's next animated short on Monday, May 23 - included a reference to the "discovery of new heroes". It has since said that this was a typo.

The French cinema advert in question.

NeoGAF user Nirolak subsequently put together an intriguing set of pointers towards an unannounced character seemingly called Sombra, who could be the new hero in question.

Elements presented as clues include the fact that launch character Reaper's audio files include a line saying "Where's Sombra when you need her" and a dossier with that name on it appears in the game's Dorado level. Previous heroes have been teased before release in similar ways - notably, D.Va was originally seen on banners in the Hanamura level.

The mystery deepens when you consider who Sombra could be. Shots from a Gamespot documentary appear to show a sniper character in the Support section of the game's character select screen (a character that currently doesn't appear in the game). In artwork depicting the game's backstory, playable character Pharah's mother, Ana, is shown toting a sniper rifle.

Ana was reportedly killed but, given that both Soldier 76 and Reaper are characters whose backstories revolve around their supposed deaths, it's not a leap to suggest Sombra could have taken a similar path.

IGN has unboxed the Overwatch Collector's Edition, and the included Visual Source Book (which includes biographies of every launch character) does not include Sombra, presumably ruling her out of being announced and released before the game's launch - however, it's not out of the question that we could see her unveiled and teased as future DLC.

Blizzard has previously announced that all further heroes and maps will be released for free.

The Soldier: 76 animated short, 'Hero' will be released on May 22 at 10:00am PT. Overwatch itself will be released on May 24 - and you can now find out exactly when that will be in your timezone.

It's also worth noting that the Overwatch EU Twitter account is teasing a new announcement for later today:

Joe Skrebels is IGN's UK News Editor, and he's delving into Overwatch lore like it's Dark Souls or something. Follow him on Twitter.

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