Overwatch is a game that has grown to firmly establish itself within the highest ranks of the very competitive market that is online first-person shooters. With its inherently unique cast of playable heroes undoubtedly being one of the main pulling factors for new players, it is often the intricate and deep lore that surrounds the heroes which acts as a catalyst for their personalities and likability.
One of the most interesting factors of lore within Overwatch is that of the Omnic Crisis. The Omnic Crisis is probably the single most important aspect of the wider lore, providing key contextual information for many of the game's heroes and precipitating the formation of the "Overwatch" group itself.
The Omnica Corporation
It would be remiss when talking about the Omnic Crisis to not first give context as to what the Omnica Corporation was. The Omnica Corporation was a multinational corporate entity within the world of Overwatch that sought to revolutionize the process of producing advanced robotics via the use of their highly efficient and autonomous facilities dubbed "omnium factories."
An added purpose to these highly scientific factories was to bring about a global economic golden age, typified by economic equality. However, soon after the global establishment of these omnium factories, evidence of serious malfunctions within their produced robotics were starting to become evident, as well as controversies of corporate fraud within the Omnica Corporation itself. Eventually, the company was forcibly dissolved and their patented omnium factories laid dormant.
The Omnic Crisis
The Omnic Crisis began once the condemned and empty omnium factories mysteriously reactivated of their own volition. The now autonomous algorithmic hive minds of these omnium factories reactivated with a shared singular focus of wiping out their human creators, leading to an intense and long-spanning bloody global conflict between the human race and hordes of omnic robots. With how far-spanning the conflict was, many, if not all, of the diverse Overwatch cast have some personal relation to the Omnic Crisis.
The main bulk of these robotic armies were Bastion combat units. The popular damage-based hero Bastion in Overwatch is actually one of these omnic enemies, who lost its all-encompassing urge to destroy humans after finding an affinity with nature following its reactivation, years after the conflict. The Omnic Crisis was considered a World War, with most of the globe's nations fighting an overwhelming battle against the unfeeling and ruthless metal threat. Despite marginal human victories here and there, the omnic threat eventually took control of the entire Earth.
The Formation of Overwatch
Following this crushing defeat, a last attempt to quell the omnic threat was put together by the United Nations, who put together a small but highly specialized and skilled taskforce. Built up of the most proficient operators from across the globe, the group was named "Overwatch," the namesake for the game and a group that would go on to consist of much of the Overwatch hero cast.
Conducting their operations amidst high levels of secrecy, this original Overwatch Taskforce found high levels of success via their waging of "asymmetrical warfare" against the omnic forces. By targeting omnic command centers and their control protocols, the agents were effectively able to cut off the head of the omnic threat and render their extensive armies obsolete and without direction.
Despite millions killed or displaced globally, peace was finally achieved, although in a tentative state. With all but one of the Bastion combat units systematically destroyed, a shaky treaty of peace was formed with the surviving omnics, bringing about an end to the Omnic Crisis as well as newfound international acclaim for the world-saving Overwatch group.
Overwatch is available now for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
