Happy Overwatch launch day everyone!

For those who don’t know, Overwatch is a brand new IP coming from Blizzard Entertainment. You know, the studio behind all those StarCraft, WarCraft, and Diablo games. Unlike those games, Overwatch is a competitive multiplayer shooter, with a diverse array of characters, each with their own abilities and skills. This is also a game I’ve been interested in for a long while, especially so after the recent open beta. The gameplay is fast, crisp, and a hell of a lot of fun.

While the gameplay hearkens back to popular team based shooters like Team Fortress 2, what I find extremely fascinating about the game is Blizzard’s ability to tell a story, even though there isn’t a traditional story campaign anywhere in the game. What is Overwatch, why are these characters fighting, and why does it matter? These are the questions Blizzard is looking to answer.

Through the use of other types of media like digital comics and character lore through the main Overwatch website, Blizzard has given fans a deeper insight into who these characters are and why they do the things they do. It’s also a neat way to get fans to care about these characters than by just having them play the game.

Personally though, my favorite storytelling method for Overwatch has been through the incredibly impressive animations created for a number of their characters like Soldier 76, Winston, Widowmaker, and Hanzo. I’ve always been impressed by Blizzard’s cinematics in their games, but these are on a whole different quality level, one that is on par with the likes of film animation studios like Dreamworks or Pixar.

It sounds as though Blizzard intends to make more of these over time, but for now (and in case you’ve missed them), I’ve rounded up all four animations below for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!