Hanzo (Overwatch)

Hanzo
'Overwatch' character
First game	Overwatch (2016)

Hanzo Shimada (シマダハンゾー, Shimada Hanzo) is a player characters appearing in the 2016 video game Overwatch, a Blizzard Entertainment developed first-person shooter video game and its related media.

The character is of Japanese origin and in the game only goes by his first name, Hanzo. In Overwatch, he is classified as a defense character and one with a high difficulty ranking. He is a sniper and his bow has the ability to show the location of his enemies.

The character has been well received by critics. Praise has been directed towards his character arc involving his brother and his abilities, though reviewers have noted that he is a character who takes practice in order to be able to play well.

Development and design

Hanzo was first revealed at BlizzCon 2014, along with eleven other characters from Overwatch. Originally, Hanzo and his brother Genji were created as a single cyborg-ninja hero named Hanzo, who wielded both a bow and sword. Due to feeling that the character had too unfocused in design and had too many ninja elements attached to him, the character was split into two brothers, with Hanzo obtaining the bow, name and clothing of the original character. The character's story arc along with Genji's was also inspired by the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi

Gameplay

Hanzo is classified as a defense character in Overwatch. He is a sniper and wields a bow which can be charged up and fired at different strengths.

Appearences

Video game

Hanzo's fictional biography lists his full name: Hanzo Shimada, age: 38, and base of opperations which was in Hanamura, Japan. In Overwatch lore, Hanzo belongs to the Shimada family, a clan of assassins. As the eldest son in the family, Hanzo was bound by duty to inherit the Shimada empire from his father. Upon his father's death, the clan elders instructed Hanzo to straighten out his younger brother Genji. When Genji refused, the clan elders forced Hanzo to kill him. The act of killing his brother broke Hanzo's heart and drove him to abandon the clan. The lore states that Hanzo currently travels the world, "attempting to restore his honor and put the ghosts of his past to rest".

Animations

In May 2016, made his first appearence in Dragons, the third in a series of animated shorts. In the short, Hanzo returns to the Shimada Temple to honor his brother Genji. Despite assassins being present, he is able to easily defeat them.

Reception

The character has received a positive critical reception. VG247 referred to him as "the closest to a stealth character" in Overwatch, noting that his abilities make him useful for finding and scattering opponents. On the character, Matt Whittaker of Hardcore Gamer wrote that Hanzo is "a sniper whose arrows do massive damage upon contact [and] is the type of hero that needs a bit of practice time before one feels totally comfortable". Despite these, he believed that player who practice with him will be able easily defeat their opponents. His ultimate ability, Dragonstrike has also been well received for being able the kill the opposing team in seconds.

The character has often been described as a "fan favorite".