Overwatch 2 Heroes’ Official Ages Sound Extremely Made Up

For a game like Overwatch 2, in which its story has been trickled out over dozens of disparate external media stories rather than in one, cohesive thing—you know, like, a video game campaign?—there are bound to be inconsistencies along the way. But lord, seeing the game’s 38 heroes suddenly get canonical birthdates and ages really just makes it apparent how weirdly incongruous these ages are with the timeline we know.

This new birth-chart fodder comes from the official Overwatch website, which was updated this week to give each hero a canonical birthday and age. Some of these make sense, like how many of the old-guard characters like Soldier: 76, Ana, and Reaper are in their late 50s and early 60s. The new kids on the block—like recent addition Illari being an 18-year-old sun-powered queen, or D.Va being a 21-year-old esports champion—probably check out too, because they’re mostly removed from the larger timeline of Overwatch. It’s when we start comparing more central characters’ canonical ages that things start to get murky.

Kiriko, one of the new support heroes introduced in Overwatch 2, is one of the most glaring examples of the math not mathing. When Blizzard first revealed Kiriko, it claimed she grew up with Genji and Hanzo, and even trained alongside them in the ways of the sword. However, now that all involved have official ages, things aren’t adding up. We’re told Genji and Hanzo are 37 and 40, respectively, while Kiriko is supposedly 21. On paper, I believe those ages because each of those heroes feels written to be those ages, it’s the pitting those numbers against the lore, art, and story we know that doesn’t click. Look at this illustration of the three training in Kiriko’s Origin Story trailer. You expect me to believe there are nearly 20 years of difference between these characters? Sure, Kiriko looks young and could reasonably be under 10 here, but you expect me to believe that Hanzo is pushing 30 in this image?

Kiriko, Genji, and Hanzo train with the swords as Kiriko's mother bops Genji on the head.

Screenshot: Blizzard Entertainment / Kotaku

Attack of the Fanboy compiled some examples of Overwatch fans pointing out other oddities and inconsistencies. Consider Sojourn, who’s now listed as 47 years old. Her sister Valentine, introduced in the spin-off novel “Overwatch 2: Sojourn”, would have had to have been 14 years old when giving birth to Sojourn’s niece Bonnie. Which sure, isn’t impossible, but it does seem highly unlikely.

Personally, one of the biggest eyebrow-raising age questions of Overwatch is Pharah and Mercy, who became a canonical (possibly unrequited) pairing in the story when it was revealed Pharah is a lesbian during the game’s first Pride event. Mercy is 39, whereas Pharah is supposedly 34. Meanwhile, art of Pharah exists in Ana’s origin story that shows a very, very young Pharah standing with much of the original Overwatch crew; the gap between the two appears much larger than five years.

Pharah, Mercy, Reaper, Soldier: 76, Reinhardt, Ana, Torbjorn, Cassidy, and Sojourn pose for a photo.

Screenshot: Blizzard Entertainment / Kotaku

Honestly, with all of Overwatch’s narrative changes and shake-ups over the years, I get it. Trying to get this game’s story off the ground has been tumultuous enough that expecting it to be airtight and perfect in its timeline and lore is just nitpicking. But it is funny to look at all the numbers next to each other and realize a majority of Overwatch’s story is about vibes more than getting into the nitty-gritty of the timeline.

If you’re curious, here are everyone’s ages and birthdays:

Tank

  • D.Va: June 22, (21)
  • Doomfist: May 25, (47)
  • Junker Queen: June 14, (31)
  • Orisa: May 9, (1)
  • Ramattra: March 29, (28)
  • Reinhardt: June 26, (63)
  • Roadhog: September 12, (50)
  • Sigma: March 12, (64)
  • Winston: June 6, (31)
  • Wrecking Ball: October 15, (16)
  • Zarya: December 4, (30)

Damage

  • Ashe: October 1, (41)
  • Bastion: ??? (32)
  • Cassidy: July 31, (39)
  • Echo: February 5, (14)
  • Genji: October 28, (37)
  • Hanzo: November 3, (40)
  • Junkrat: February 29, (27)
  • Mei: September 5, (33)
  • Pharah: April 15, (34)
  • Reaper: December 14, (60)
  • Sojourn: January 12, (47)
  • Soldier: 76: January 27, (58)
  • Sombra: December 31, (32)
  • Symettra: October 2, (30)
  • Torbjorn: September 21, (59)
  • Tracer: February 12, (28)
  • Widowmaker: November 19, (35)

Support

  • Ana: January 1, (62)
  • Baptiste: March 12, (38)
  • Brigitte: September 22, (25)
  • Illari: December 21, (18)
  • Kiriko: July 7, (21)
  • Lifeweaver: April 28, (31)
  • Lucio: March 20, (28)
  • Mercy: May 13, (39)
  • Moira: April 4, (50)
  • Zenyatta: July 14, (33)

Moving forward, we should all make a pact to no longer ask for people’s birthsigns; now, we’ll just ask each other which Overwatch hero we share a birth month with. Unfortunately, my own answer of “Wrecking Ball, the intelligent hamster” doesn’t sound particularly cool.

Starfield’s Official Mod Tools Are Coming In 2024

Although thousands of fan-made Starfield mods are already available—such as an early inventory screen overhaul, and Hello Kitty gun skins—official supported modding tools aren’t planned to hit Bethesda Game Studios’ open-space RPG until next year, game director Todd Howard said in an interview.

Read More: Starfield Isn’t The Future Of Video Games, And That’s Okay
Buy Starfield: Amazon | Best Buy | GameStop

Speaking to the Japanese publication Famitsu (and machine-translated by PCGamesN), Howard said mods are important to the studio. As such, Bethesda is working hard to ensure mod support functions without a hitch.

“When the mods are ready, you will be able to do almost anything as we have done in the past, and the mods will be supported next year, but we will do it in a big way because we love it too,” Howard said to questions about mods.

This release cadence mirrors what Bethesda Game Studios has done with its previous games, most notably Fallout 4, which saw official mod support come to the open-world post-apocalyptic shooter a year after it launched. Howard also confirmed that official mod support would hit Starfield in due time during a November 2021 Reddit AMA. So, the studio is making good on its promises.

“Our plan [is] have full mod support like our previous games,” Howard said in response to mod inquiries. “Our modding community has been with us for 20 years. We love what they do and hope to see more make a career out of it.”

Kotaku reached out to Bethesda for comment.

Read More: Todd Howard Tells Starfield Players To Upgrade Their PCs
Buy Starfield: Amazon | Best Buy | GameStop

Starfield has been a massive success for Bethesda Game Studios and Microsoft since it officially launched on September 6 for PC and Xbox consoles. The game’s concurrent player count on Steam peaked at over 330K, which is well above The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’s 287K concurrent player record, and overall the game has reportedly reached some six million players. While these are impressive figures, it’s worth noting that Starfield is available for “free” via Xbox Game Pass, so the numbers may not tell the whole story. Still, Starfield is doing very well thus far.

 

New Fortnite Map Is An Official, Playable Alan Wake Recap

A screenshot shows a Fortnite character pointing a flashlight at a diner.

Screenshot: Epic / Remedy / Kotaku

Remedy’s action-horror cult hit Alan Wake was first released back in 2010. Later this month, after 13 years, Alan Wake 2 is finally launching. And to help folks remember what happened in the first game over a decade ago, Remedy and Epic have partnered up to create a short, playable recap inside Fortnite.

The original Alan Wake might not have been a sales juggernaut when it first hit shelves in 2010, but it quickly developed a cult following and gained heaps of praise from critics. While we did end up getting a side-story/spin-off thing in 2012—a smaller digital-only game known as Alan Wake’s American Nightmare—a true sequel seemed unlikely. In 2013, Alan Wake creator Sam Lake even apologized to fans for the fact that a sequel wasn’t happening. But things change, and on October 27 fans will get the long-awaited sequel. And in case you need a quick recap on what happened, Alan Wake 2 publisher Epic has a Fortnite map for you.

Epic / Remedy

Alan Wake: Flashback, out now, is a short Fortnite world that condenses the events of the first game into a level that will take most players about 20 to 25 minutes to complete. This isn’t a full remake of the original 2010 classic or a complete retelling of that first game’s events. Instead, it’s an elaborate “Previously On” type of experience.

Here’s the island code to play Alan Wake: Flashback in Fortnite: 3426-5561-3374

A cool idea, but you should still play Alan Wake

I played through Flashback earlier today as Leon S. Kennedy from Resident Evil 4, which made the whole experience a bit weird. The map was built by Epic with help from developers Spiral House and Zen Creative. In Flashback you explore moments from the game and use your flashlight to clear dark areas and obstacles.

The Alan Wake: Flashback map ports over assets from the first game into Fortnite to re-tell the most important moments from the 2010 original. Oddly, this new Fortnite experience doesn’t seem to contain the events of Alan Wake’s DLC episodes or the American Nightmare spin-off, though it does reference them slightly.

While I think the idea of a playable recap of a game is neat and I enjoyed this short, creepy trip down memory lane, I’d still recommend folks just play Alan Wake before the sequel. And play American Nightmare, too. It’s cool. But if you can’t do that for whatever reason, this is a solid way to get caught up on Alan Wake lore before Alan Wake 2 launches (digitally only) on October 27 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows PC.

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