Overwatch 2 Announces Visual Redesign for Anran

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While excitement is building for the big changes coming to Overwatch in Season 1, the new character Anran has received criticism for looking quite different than originally shown. After a difficult start in 2023, Overwatch (originally released as Overwatch 2) has been steadily improving, thanks to ongoing updates, fresh seasonal content, and popular additions like the Stadium game mode.

Okay, so Blizzard is doing a major revamp of Overwatch on February 10th, 2026 – they’re even dropping the ‘2’ from the name! They’re kicking off the new season with 5 new heroes, which is awesome. It’s a big change for the game’s 10th anniversary, and they’re really focusing on story this year. There’s going to be a big storyline about Talon rising to power, and they’re planning to add a total of 10 heroes throughout the year. But honestly, one of those new heroes is causing a lot of debate in the community right now.

Overwatch Is Redesigning Anran

Blizzard recently unveiled Anran, a new damage-dealing hero for Overwatch, as part of the Season 1 announcement. She’s Wuyang’s older sister and fights with fiery attacks using a pair of war fans. However, many players haven’t reacted positively to her new design, specifically her face. It appears significantly different from her original look, featuring a smaller nose, a narrower face, and softer eyes, making her resemble other heroes like Brigitte and Kiriko. Originally, Anran was introduced in Wuyang’s backstory when he joined Overwatch 2, and she had a more mature, slightly more rugged appearance that better highlighted their sibling relationship.

Fans were very upset with Anran’s new design, and the reaction became so strong that even the voice actor for the character, Fareeha, spoke out. In a social media video, she acknowledged the controversy, carefully trying to address fan concerns without criticizing the game developers. She pointed to a previous comic, Elemental Kin, which had hinted at a willingness to move beyond traditional beauty standards, and explained how many felt the new design didn’t follow through on that promise. Fareeha described this as an important issue, and it seems she and the community were successful – Overwatch director Aaron Keller has now confirmed that Anran will be redesigned.

Image via Blizzard

Keller expressed gratitude for the positive response to the Season 1 reveal and shared that the Overwatch team is working on making Anran better reflect her original concept as a strong, older sister figure. He explained that this change has been planned for some time and was almost announced last week, but they wanted to be sure of the details before sharing. While the update is expected in Season 1, Keller didn’t specify exactly what changes players can expect.

Okay, so I’ve been noticing a huge jump in the Overwatch player base lately, and it’s awesome! Even before Season 1 dropped, things were picking up. I was checking Steam stats, and they’ve gone up by 63% in just the last month – they hit almost 70,000 players on February 7th! Which is crazy when you think most of us PC players actually use Blizzard’s Battle.net to play, not Steam. Now that Season 1 is finally here, I’m really curious to see if this momentum keeps going and how long Overwatch can stay this popular.

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2026-02-10 17:37