Overwatch Declassified - NEW Overwatch Lore Book Reviewed!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 พ.ค. 2024
- Overwatch Declassified is here! After nearly 2 years from its launch, the Overwatch Lore Bible has landed, with details from over nearly 50 years of Overwatch lore and story from before the First Omnic Crisis to Overwatch 2 PVE missions. Here's my Overwatch 'Lore Bible' review - timecodes in the description to skip around!
TIMECODES:
0:00 - Overwatch Declassified Intro!
0:36 - Book Summary - What’s it about?
1:41 - Book Structure - How the info is framed.
4:16 - The Pre-Crisis World
6:22 - The Start of The Crisis
8:49 - Early Overwatch Recruitment and Missions
11:23 - Overwatch on the Attack - Finding The Source of The Crisis
13:40 - Overwatch Struggles - The Beginning of The End
16:02 - What’s included in Overwatch Declassified?
18:25 - What’s not included in Overwatch Declassified?
21:35 - Was this book delayed? Kind of feels like it.
22:45 - What I like and dislike!
25:37 - Final Review!
What do you think of Overwatch Declassified? Does it cover what you wanted, if you read it already? Any particular details you'd like me to dive into or questions? Let me know in the comments!
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Overwatch Lore BIBLE/Codex is here in Overwatch Declassified! What details would you like to hear more about? Are you enjoying it if you have it?
Let me know below - timecodes in description to skip!
It truly devastates me that all the lore that we may have gotten had the PVP been finalized and released on it's original schedule. The Archives missions were the events I was most excited for just because we got to see these characters in the actual environments we've read about.
I think - hope - that we get maybe a second set of PVE missions to round out the story. Given the rhetoric/tone of comms after Blizzcon 2023 though, it feels like 'PVP' is the focus when it comes to playable content updates - which, to be honest, I get. PVE had its shot and I think probably if they couldn't make 'hero missions' fun, and replayable content fun, then what we had in Invasion is what it would be more of. Story can be shared and delivered in many other ways than playable missions. That said - I'm still sad for what we could have potentially had :(
@@Hammeh Honestly I could see them just release 3 or so PVE missions per year as a yearly replacement for the archive missions for the foreseeable future. It wouldn't take too many resources away from the main PVP team now that the scope has been lowered from what it was originally meant to be.
what I find sad is inconsistencies in the story.. it doesn't feel loved
@@Hammeh we could have had an AI Director for hero missions. that way they wouldn’t have to make hundreds each with only a few selectable heroes. Darktide, Vermintide, and Deep Rock Galactic are the best examples of this. this is what i was hoping for, but all that potential was gutted immediately.
i only hope that they’ll return to it someday.
@@darthnick427 Yeah, we know they have more missions coming, with the cliffhanger ending to the current ones and one of the devs mentioning at the last blizzcon, so I think that is what is most likely to happen.
It's a fact that Rammatra wasn't ment to be relesed in season 2, because when they announced Mauga they said that they had switched Ram and Mauga relese date for continuing to work on Mauga because he was a fan favourite and they wanted to nail his kit, so with that in mind, now make a lot more sense why the "mystery" of don't knowing who was the ominc behind Null sector attacks wasn't really a mystery.
They mention Mauga and Sigma being swapped a bit in the Blizzcon 2023 what's next panel - that said, I think Ram was definitely brought forward too!
I think Ram was potentially switched up to support OW2 launch given the new 'more content more often, F2P plan'. Either way, between the two, the 'mystery' of Toronto wasn't so much of a mystery!
@Hammeh Michael Chu mentioned that Mauga was supposed to be released in place of Sigma, and Sigma before Ramattra. Ramattra was meant to be playable AFTER the release of Invasions, aka Mauga's release. Michael noted that Mauga was set back twice and was a bit upset about that. It is also somewhat supported by Mauga's reveal trailer where his first line is "Sorry to keep you all waiting" because all the devs KNEW he was delayed a ton, and fans have been waiting/praying for him to come lol
Theyve always lied about “Switching” Mauga with another character to keep fan attention, theres even developer notes and interviews with them saying such over the past few years.
They originally weren’t even going to make Mauga a playable character as he was JUST a one-off character in Bap’s past.
*The writer for Bap’s novel even said they had zero interest in Mauga until fans wanted him*
By the time Mauga became popular in the community, Sigma’s placeholder and model were already in the game to prep for his release, then when Sigma WAS released and fans complained it wasn’t Mauga.
The developers lied and said “Sigma was meant to be Mauga, but we wanted to prepare Mauga better, Sigma’s kit just didn’t *feel* like Mauga so we scrapped the idea and made Sigma.”
By present day’s time, they only made Mauga to quiet that section of the fanbase, especially since they had to overhaul ALOT of OWs storyline to now INCLUDE Mauga, who wasn’t there previously.
@@ThyranG where did you find this theory, is this just your opinion or is backed up by sources? Because i never heard about it and if you are right i would like to learn more
i've been waiting for this to drop... INJECT IT INTO MY EYES!!!!!!!!
Thanks sir, means a lot. Keep fighting the good fight 💪
my favorite Crohn-ic overwatch player
I was laughing when you said that Ramattra was a "break in case of emergency" character b/c he kinda is if you think about it and he was hinted for years with Doomfist and we had not idea who he was.
For me, he was the reason I got interested in OW after 4 years of not touching/thinking about the game b/c he is former shambali monk and was a mentor to Zenyatta aka more interesting lore dump on the ominc side which we had little to nothing information about the omincs after the crisis.
Thanks for stopping by Forte! Haha, I'm not putting him down as a character, I think he's awesome. I think that looking at him even before Blizzcon 2023 and the team talking about moving Mauga and Sigma around, he's a very obvious 'we need a cracking character out, let's go' type of decision. In any PVE campaign with him as a big bad, you ideally (for the story/suspense?) don't throw him out as a hero release before your story has even been told. He became very much the lynchpin of Overwatch 2 launch in late 2022 after Kiriko. Glad he got you back into the game, you enjoying it I hope?
Overwatch is such a good and lore rich world that deserves the love and respect that comes with that title. Unfortunately the reality is that couldnt be farther from what we got. I miss the good days of overwatch i cant be alone in saying this back when the game was fun in 2016 when first i played the times when i couldnt wait to open the game, now its hard to motivate myself to even open the game because its practcally just a cosmetic store with PVP attached and a development team that just hasnt got the magic it used to.
Hammeh I love the fact that you are still making superb content covering it and the lore is still very interesting to me that's why I love this channel.
Same. I couldn't take it much longer so at launch of 2022 i uninstalled the game due to its direction its heading. Though its tempting NOT to buy this book, its gonna be tougher looking thru the pages of the lore
Yeah i dont get that criticism of team 4 especially compared to how they were before. No communication, slow ass balance patches. The game only got updated during seasonal events. They have been much better now than in the past, with the skins stuff on top of that.
Thanks for stopping by TK! Too kind and glad you still enjoy the videos! I'll still be making Overwatch Lore, time to expand a bit though finally as well I think :) I definitely miss the old days, Overwatch is still a game like no other when it comes to having a bit of brawly team PVP fun. I still enjoy diving into it, I just don't grind it. I'm sad for what game we may have been able to have with PVE or a different Overwatch style universe. Still - if the game does well, maybe they'll make new games and experiences that forward the story. Riot with their League IP have done this kind of well so far.
Team 4 have moved forward for sure from their comms over the last few years. Even from early 2023. They had to, to be honest. The struggles they had around communicating the Overwatch 2/PVE/Hero Mission changes and dropping of plans, did a lot of damage to the community relationship. Not criticising them for having the struggles or not delivering - game dev is for sure not easy. However, the comms around the whole thing and timings were honestly just terrible.
Separate to that - Overwatch has gone the way of the free to play, as many other games have. I am not a fan of *how* they've gone about this, or the system in general, but there are better ways to go about it than others. People being frustrated that they didn't get what they expected or was 'promised'/'promoted' is understandable to me to a degree. People wanting a game forever for completely free is not. The mixups in Blizzard communication around this pivot are what has caused a lot of community frustration, to be honest.
I just want to see all the stuff on Moira. Can’t wait for the lore that Illari will bring to her.
There's a bit of background in the book on Moira around her existing story! Will take a look :)
It's cool and all, but I've always was so interested in Sigma's lore. Like the book says stuff about him being at Horizon colony and pioneering certain gravitional technologies, but my question always was- Did people have any questions when he had the accident? Did they just told everyone he was dead and they just accepted it without any questions? His lore is just too vague, but also very intriguing and it's sad that they canceled the PVE and now they're just giving us lore that in the most part we already knew.
That being said, I hope we'll get some lore bits about him and Talon in general, they're pretty interesting.
Cheers for saying hello! There is more on his work a bit - with regards to maglev, and how that was integrated into Indian/other space launch technologies. There's nothing hugely deep around Sigma in the way you describe, it'd be amazing for him to get a short story in future. He was a great hero release :)
This book, as you point out, is a lot of 'already knew' - however, nice details around it and some new stuff we haven't known before, stitched and crafted together into a satisfying feeling world. I enjoy it for those things!
At 5:00 you can see the description for Anubis and its/his primary focus on "ecological conservation", which is actually pretty interesting when you take Meis new remark on certain maps / her collected data as well as the Antarctica map and its stuff into consideration. Maybe the Omnic war was much deeper as it is presented until now and Anubis just saw /used the Omnics as means to an even greater end nobody noticed yet.
Nice spot! Will go into that more in another video, but yeah, lots on Anubis and it trying to save the world (or environment) by potentially taking the decision that humans are the problem 😅
Ultimately I think there is - or at least, was - someone pulling the strings behind Anubis, maybe convincing or programming it to think it was doing what was necessary as an excuse to thin out the crowd. An Osiris, if you will, who thrives among the dead.
I believe it also explains how Bastion woke up! Maybe Bastion was just returning to his original programming?
This book is everything I could've hoped for. There are so many gaps in the lore that I've been praying would one day get filled and it fills them magnificently. I loved it from start to finish and now I just want more, be it more PvE stuff, an animated series on Netflix a la Arcane, or preferably both.
I don’t know why they never hired Hammeh to help with lore and world building or at least keep track of the lore since Hammeh has always been the lore guy where other just focus on the gameplay
Too kind pinacolada, and thanks for saying hello! I'd love to get involved or help/work/anything on such things with a game in future, Overwatch or otherwise to be honest!
As for Overwatch..what you describe is probably part of a job, and rarely a full time job on its own. Narrative designer/writers tend to do a lot more than just keep lore in order. I'm not one of those, maybe it's not too late to change career 😂
Blizzard have a small number of historians/archivists that work on keeping lore straight/together for various games teams. These are hired in the USA out of Irvine/main office, so as a UK resident, I don't think they'd hire remotely for those roles - I've tried last time one came up and received a rejection in the past - guessing for that reason :)
Could be I'm too old/malding - or joking aside, not the right profile for many fair reasons also! I figure if they ever want help or another opinion or set of eyes, they'll ask hopefully. They have once or twice in the past :)
No way the overwatch lore is finally complete
Not quite complete, but certainly more so with a lot more world.built than before! Good book, hope you enjoy the vid! :)
I honestly believe a netflix series would do wonders for the lore. It'd give them an opportunity to tell the story of overwatch while still being able to work on the live game.
Thank you so much for posting this! Outside of Stylosa mentioning this book and this video you produced, I had no idea. Definitely going to grab this book. I do wish there was detailed stuff on Lucio's tech!! Can't wait to get my copy! Thanks Hammeh!
As someone who hasn’t really dipped into the lore outside the cinematic for the last couple years I think this book is high-key perfect for me as it’s a nice catch up and summary. I’ve always been super interested in DoomFist lore so I’m excited to read that.
Thanks for saying hi kieron! It's a nice book that does a lot of world building outside of everything you can see online for sure!
Thanks for making this video, I had no idea this was a thing and likely wouldn't have known either. It seems right up my alley :)
Thanks for popping by and glad I could help! It's a lovely book - more videos with more lore details on it to come!
I didn't expect the book being thin like that but I guess I have to lower my expectation 😂
I mean, it's 200+ pages! Not exactly thin to me :D
Hey hammeh just wanted to say thanks for uploading this vid. I cannot afford the hardcover right now but it’s nice with this video now I won’t be left behind on lore. Cheers!
No worries, thanks for stopping by Mel! This is more a general review of the book - more specific lore details videos coming in the next few days! :)
Im glad that the white dome operation is still canon in the universe. They never used it to create a new map or to introduce a new hero. They could easily make a map based on turkey 🇹🇷
ohohohoo I need me one of these for my shelf
If you like the lore then I think honestly it's a great buy! Thanks for stopping by - hope all's good with you!!
After scouring this book I have a whole list of teeny tiny things mentioned that made me go "!!!!" as well as a list of further questions! I probably won't make a video bc I'm unpopular and shy but I can't wait to hear your thoughts on what you find!
Great to hear your thoughts! There's so much in here. My next video (not today's) will be the 'everything' video...it's like an hour long. So, hopefully cover stuff in there, but comment away with what you're enjoying!
Did they explain how Kiriko fell into a vat of timewarp and now there’s nearly a generation gap between her and her childhood friends?
I can see Pharah on the cover, but I gotta ask, is there anything the book about her? I haven't played since OW1, and realized I was more interested in her lore and how she fit into Overwatch and the world at large than I did the actual game.
Are there any Pharah lore crumbs I can scrape up for sustenance? In this book or elsewhere?
How up to date are you with recent lore? Really New Blood is her thing - there are some small mentions of her in here to do with Helix later in the bookk. We see her at Liao's funeral in a picture with Ana, for example. Mostly it's a framing of the world before, during and after Overwatch and Omnic Crisis 1 - so, she doesn't get loads of screentime I'm afraid :(
Bro THEY DIDN"T GIVE YOU A COPY?! You are like, *THE* Overwatch Lore guy???? Like I'm glad you brought it, but like, they should have sent it to you!
Does the book talk about Amélie Lacroix/Widowmaker and Gerard and has anything new about them?
A bit more about Gerard! Not hugely much about Widow beyond what we know, but I can share that in vids/shorts. I think there's a short story or a new comic for her sometime at the very least, it feels like it anyway, the way they leave her story very to one side.
One question. OW is supposed to help with the Omnic crisis. But they didn't have a single omnic among them.
It always seemed odd to me. Do we learn if there were omnics among OW, in this book ?
Remember that the Awakening was towards the end of the first Omnic Crisis, so omnics couldn't really have joined in a sentient sense before then. I think that some joined later for sure. There's a few namechecked characters that could sound like omnics (or are using more superhero esque nicknames, if not!) Take your pick from Soundquake, Fusionator, Wildebeest and a few others in the book - they do not say ANYTHING about them bar their name and what they did, so this is very blatant speculation/new hero theory fodder.
The other thing detailed is basically Overwatch's support structure - so, as Overwatch expanded, there's most definitely room for Omnics there!
Was wondering if the book touched the reformation of Overwatch, and if it did, whether it addressed D.Va's status as a deserter or not. Considering Korea's struggle against the Gwishin omnics and the fact that D.Va was one of, if not the best MEKA pilot they had, the fact that state-of-the-art military equipment like MEKA aren't cheap and are the property of the Korean army, and any Overwatch activity is banned by international law through Petras Act, there is no way they would have voluntarily let D.Va just leave with her MEKA to go to Toronto to join the new Overwatch.
Yknow blizzard this would be cool to see all of this in an actual animated anthology series
Ive been wanting to know more about operation white dome for sooo long
A few pages on it - and Emre as a key and useful agent!
Only gonna get the book to see Gabriel
Food for you there then!
@@Hammeh …I have a problem..
I wish there could be something like this but for talon + null sector
14:20 is it still canon that widow killed gerard
Hi, is there any mention of Emre Sarioglu?
Yes. He is confirmed to be the Mohawk guy from anas pictures now and there is even a new Image for him shown in the Video where he hunkers down next to Torbjörn. He was the First recruit to Join overwatch and was globally in the headlines for that. He is very combat skilled and a good tactition. After White Dome he became a complete member for overwatch and even a close friend who couldn't be seperated from the original strike team. Also Mercy wasn't alone when she found Genji, Emre was with her aswell on a scouting mission. There is also a short story coming in april where Ana Jack fight through Istanbul to meet with an informent who knows what took down overwatch all those years ago.
The chances of him becoming a future hero is now incredibly high since he is the last member of the original team and the only person on Anas pictures who isn't a hero :)
This reminds me of a song of ice and fire for game of thrones
Thanks for being around 7 years GINGI! I need to go and watch the last GoT series...or shouldn't I bother 🤣
@@Hammeh no thank you for being around for 7 years, you were the first OW related page I followed, I LOOOVE lore in stories and I would wake up, eat, and fall asleep to your videos. THANK YOU
As someone from Worcester i’m not shocked at all to see it spelled “Worchester”
Why is Thanos on the Force the Sun to Set page lol
Team 4 swapping the releases of Ramattra and Mauga messed with the narrative so much
The moving around of Mauga and Sigma (Blizzcon Deep Dive 2023 panel) was a thing for sure, and also Ram (I'm guessing) just being moved to be released earlier than he was planned with the original PVE vision. PVE missions still work! We just lost the reveal a bit of who Ram was..
@@HammehI think that’s okay if you take Dramatic Irony into account. The book teases a mystery the heroes don’t know, but we’re already familiar with it.
I would like to know when you're going to be streaming next - Meow 😂
Hah! Is morning or evening Aus better? I'll potentially leap on tomorrow I think!
Bro I posted a link to your video on the reddit OW page, are you cool with it? If not I can take it down, but it's news to me and I wanted to share with people
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Is this Hammeh's first face reveal?
Cheers for stopping by Peter! Honestly, I've streamed and had my face on this channel a bunch of times over the last 8+ years! Might be the first time for some people though! Let me know if facecam in vids works or not!
I mean that is nice and all but please give Sigma a short story. Please Blizzard. I would buy this if they weaved Sigma in with the Horizon Lunar Colony. It’s been 4 years and he only has a origin Story.
R u not gonna talk about mauga?????
I can’t believe that book weighs 28 pounds!
🤣🤣🤣 Good British units of money etc
Are the ages right in this book though? Lol
Honestly they avoid dating bar 'x years, y years framing' as before. Going through it with a finer tooth comb and will let you know on anything timeline-y!
FINALLY
THE CANON (Up until, of course, Blizzard, in their ways, get around to retconning upwards of 95%, or _more_ , of this codex's contents.)
THE CANON! On some things...with questions still to be asked on others! Let's see RE Retcons. It's happened before in multiple Blizzard games!