I’ve been taking part in Overwatch since 2019. I lastly jumped into Blizzard’s hero shooter after the discharge of Bastet, a brief story following the medic sniper Ana and outdated man vigilante Jack “Soldier: 76” Morrison, which confirmed the broody ex-Overwatch chief was as soon as in a long-time relationship with a person named Vincent, however the two had lengthy since break up. Soldier’s devotion to Overwatch’s trigger strained their connection, and ultimately, Vincent married and located the life he wished. On the time, Blizzard got here beneath a bit of fireside for sequestering this lore drop in a brief story that the majority of Overwatch’s participant base would by no means see. For years, it felt like Blizzard’s shooter existed in an area of believable deniability, the place it had queer characters however any signal of these identities was stashed away the place bigots may ignore it. That every one modified in 2023 when the sport started an annual Delight Month occasion celebrating its queer heroes, and this yr, it lastly made good on a promise it made to Soldier: 76 followers six years in the past.
It began out small on the finish of Could. Blizzard lastly put a voice line in pre-match banter that references the connection. Soldier and the sport’s bisexual heartthrob Baptiste speak about how the ex-Overwatch commander as soon as had somebody who “captured [his] coronary heart,” however he hadn’t seen this man “in a very long time.” Vincent is rarely talked about by identify, however anybody who’s caught up on the lore is aware of who this alternate is about. On the time, this simply appeared like Blizzard lastly including an actual, tangible reference to the connection. When the corporate lastly introduced what it was doing for Delight Month, nevertheless, it was revealed this was the precursor for a a lot larger second for Soldier: 76 and for individuals who have been ready for his id as a homosexual man to be greater than only a footnote in Ana’s brief story.
Every week later, Blizzard began rolling out its Delight Month celebration. This meant the return of the Midtown Delight variant, which attire up the New York Metropolis map to appear to be it’s prepared for a Delight Parade, adorned in rainbow flags and devoid of cop vehicles. However that occurs yearly. This yr, Blizzard put the highlight on Soldier: 76, whose previous relationship, in a single new brief story, went from a bullet level on his character sheet to a completely realized second in his arc. Futures Previous follows two dueling tales from Jack’s life. It continues final yr’s Heroes Ascendant brief story, which had him investigating the autumn of Overwatch by having him group up with Illari to look additional right into a grander conspiracy all through the sequence’ many factions, whereas additionally reflecting on his failed relationship with Vincent.
As somebody who has spent years eager to know extra about who Soldier: 76 was earlier than he grew to become a bitter outdated man hell-bent on revenge, I discovered Futures Previous so good that it was like one thing made up in my desires. It depicts a number of phases of Jack and Vincent’s relationship, beginning with their lovely assembly as college college students during which we see the longer term vigilante’s softer facet, and ending with the final word crumbling of their relationship years down the road. It’s angsty and nostalgic in equal measure, and elegantly weaves its present-day storyline with Soldier’s nostalgic flashbacks. Caring for Illari, a younger lady who has misplaced everybody else she ever cared for, brings up all these emotions of wanting a household with Vincent, however being unable to let go of his devotion to Overwatch. Life is stuffed with “what ifs” to dwell on, and for a person who admits to having reached his twilight years with largely regrets, Soldier: 76 looks like a fairly nostalgic one that continually thinks in regards to the errors he’s made, although he has a mission to give attention to.
The story ends with him writing Vincent a letter telling him each that he’s alive and that his ex-lover was proper about every part, and that each one wars, even those he’s devoted his life to, have to finish some day. As a result of Overwatch’s story has been caught up in growth points and largely relegated to brief tales, we don’t usually get moments that legitimately transfer issues ahead. The conflict that Soldier: 76 devoted his life to should be ongoing with out an Overwatch 2 story mode to depict it, however seeing one of many sequence’ longest-running characters truly develop from who he was when the sport launched in 2016 is the sort of growth we’ve been denied for nearly a decade. I laughed, I cried, I fist-pumped. It was good. After six years, I lastly bought the outdated man yaoi I’d so lengthy desired.
If that wasn’t sufficient, Blizzard additionally stopped hiding Soldier’s id in corners bigots wouldn’t see in the event that they weren’t wanting, giving me in-game methods to remind different gamers that my essential is an enormous ol’ gay whether or not they prefer it or not. Soldier: 76 now has a pores and skin referred to as “Resilient” that makes use of the identical colour scheme as the fashionable homosexual males’s Delight flag, much like the “Monarch” pores and skin Enterprise bought final yr, sporting non-binary colours, in addition to an emote that reveals the hero elevating a rainbow smoke bomb within the air. These cosmetics aren’t hidden in menus like Delight flag participant banners, nor are they ambiguous like a twig of Soldier and Vincent in a Christian Facet Hug. Most significantly, they’re not one thing that goes away when June is over, just like the Delight parade Midtown map. I throw up that rainbow smoke bomb at any time when I get off a great few kills in a row, in hopes that it’s going to present up on the finish in a Play of the Sport.
This Delight weekend, I marched within the New York Metropolis Delight parade for the primary time in my life, although it wasn’t the identical route Overwatch 2 gamers push a payload by within the recreation’s map variant. Again after I lived in Georgia, I by no means had the chance to attend these occasions. The small, conservative city I lived in wouldn’t dare maintain one, and Atlanta’s celebration was simply far sufficient away that I by no means made it. At a sure level, I grew to become jaded towards these gatherings as a result of they have been usually led by companies simply trying to money in on good press. Within the months since Donald Trump’s re-election, nevertheless, a variety of these firms appear to have grown skittish and at the moment are nowhere to be discovered at Delight parades, with some even reducing again funding for initiatives that assist variety. Strolling by the town, passing by 1000’s of individuals there to have a good time a neighborhood that has change into much more visibly deprived up to now yr, has a method of placing what we frequently take into account to be toothless company pandering into perspective. Rainbow washing is annoying, however seeing so many individuals in energy scatter the second they begin to really feel like they don’t have to point out up anymore feels worse.
When the load of the world seems like an excessive amount of, I search for indicators that any individual, anyone, believes that it doesn’t must be this fashion; one thing that goes past slapping a rainbow in your social media profile image. When Overwatch’s Delight occasion first ran in 2023, The sport’s builders mentioned that getting it out the door had been an uphill battle internally throughout the firm. Even now, the cosmetics the studio has put in are being censored in some territories. After three years, it might have been simple for the Overwatch 2 group to simply put the Delight Midtown map on rotation and name it a day, particularly as loads of different firms are leaving the queer folks they as soon as propped up out within the chilly. But the Overwatch 2 group has discovered from its previous errors, and is attempting to do proper by its queer characters and gamers each in-game and out. Within the grand scheme of issues, tossing up a homosexual smoke bomb isn’t going to alter the world. But it surely’s a small reminder that the world’s not past saving. In the future, this conflict will finish, too, and somebody inside Blizzard is attempting to sign that in no matter small method they’ll.
