Blizzard has released Genesis Part 1: Dawn, the first episode of a new Overwatch 2 anime short series. Instead of in-game cutscenes, Blizzard has expanded on Overwatch's lore and overarching story through animated shorts, comic books, and other avenues, with anime now being added to the mix.
Blizzard recently announced an Overwatch 2 anime series that will consist of three episodes. The series is meant to be a prequel to the current events of the Overwatch 2 game, giving fans a closer look at what happened during the original Omnic Crisis. The first video in the series covers some ground that should be familiar to hardcore Overwatch fans, but is still exciting to see play out in anime form.
The first episode of the Overwatch 2 anime series, Genesis Part 1: Dawn, begins with a battle between humans and omnics. Viewers can get a glimpse of Reinhardt defending a group of soldiers from an omnic attack before the video shifts to a documentary "talking heads" style approach. The rest of the video explains how the Omnica Corporation and its omnics were at first a massive boon for humanity, but how the corporation ultimately pushed things too far.
Dr. Mina Liao was hired by Omnica and started working on pushing the company's robotics and AI technology to the next level. The video ends with Liao successfully giving an omnic sentience. It's likely that the omnic in question is Aurora, but Overwatch fans will have to wait for the next two parts of the series to learn more. Part 2 will drop on July 13 at 9am PT, while the third and final part of the Overwatch 2 anime series is dropping on July 20 at 9am PT.
Overwatch fans will know that Liao successfully giving an omnic sentience is going to have significant consequences that eventually lead to the Omnic Crisis. The Omnic Crisis in turn leads to the formation of Overwatch. As it so happens, Mina Liao is actually a founding member of the group.
It will be interesting to see where the Overwatch 2 anime series goes from here. It's possible it will show Overwatch actually being formed, but it's also possible that it will jump ahead to the middle of the Omnic Crisis instead. Whatever the case may be, the trailer confirmed that characters like Torbjorn and Ana will be involved, so fans can look forward to seeing them in action in the weeks to come.
Overwatch 2 is out now in early access for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
