Overwatch’s newest character, support hero Kiriko, has a different rollout style. She is the first new heroine to be part of surveillance 2‘s Battle Pass, meaning that while many players have access to Kiriko, others are still working towards unlocking her. So is she was just added to one of over watch 2core modes ofand their viability in competitive gameplay will be tested over the coming weeks and months.
Kiriko also had a somewhat unusual path into the game itself: she started out as a piece of concept art intended for surveillance 2‘s PvE component that Blizzard plans to ship next year. Originally conceived as an enemy unit type, Kiriko became a full heroine due to her strong visual design. She’s also been in the works in various incarnations for about four years, when Blizzard tried to turn a drawing of a streetwear sports healer ninja with a spooky fox into a playable hero.
Senior Hero Designer Joshua Noh told Polygon in a recent interview that Kiriko “probably went through four support kits of abilities just trying to figure out what’s fun and what works in the game, especially with the new five-on-five paradigm for PvP.”
Kiriko “started out as just a really cool piece of art [character art director] Arnold [Tsang] drew,” Noh recalls. “He drew a whole bunch of ninjas [that] could be potential enemies. And we’re like Hey, this looks awesome. Let’s try to make a hero out of this.”
“There’s a lot of stuff going on in the background,” Noh said, explaining that Kiriko’s fox has to navigate around in-game objects, gaps in the ground, and terrain. “Displaying an area as large as [a huge buff] is kind of a challenge in a game that’s visually as loud as Overwatch.”
Kiriko’s original design featured a comically oversized shuriken that acted like a yo-yo or boomerang – a weapon that was eventually repurposed for another hero, Junker Queen, who throws a recallable knife.
“It was a lot of fun to use,” Noh said of Kiriko’s shuriken. “But we ran into this issue where it created this very flashy silhouette that looked very deadly, like a DPS player, and people expected this weapon to really turn people off. […] But one of the other challenges we encountered along the way with her [ninja design] was that all the abilities were really hard to translate into healer gameplay.” The team was experimenting with a shotgun-like healing weapon, but wanted to avoid magic or ninja tropes, Noh said. Ultimately, they settled on healing and cleansing talismans called Ofuda, which lean more towards the spiritual than the magical, and for which relatively new homing technologies have been developed surveillance 2.
Noh said that Kiriko started out as a “trickster heroine” and had many ways to fool the enemy team. Early versions of their kit included smoke bombs and a “Ninja Shadow Clone Ability” that allowed players to swap places. But ultimately the goal with Kiriko was “to try and encourage DPS players a little bit to try and support them,” Noh said, “much like trying to get all Genji Tracer-type players into the support role .” (surveillance 2
Kiriko’s backstory and connection to the heroes of Overwatch are outlined in a short story penned by Christie Golden titled “Yokai” and in an animated short film published in early October. But according to narrative designer Kyungseo Min, Kiriko’s role as the protector of Kanezaka and her ties to the Shimada brothers Genji and Hanzo have been ingrained in Overwatch since early 2021. The deathmatch map Kanezaka contains references to foxes, the yokai vigilante group Kiriko is a member and a member of the rival Hashimoto clan who runs the Tiger’s Den bar in this neighborhood.
“We definitely wanted her to have some sort of connection to the Shimada brothers,” Min said. “An early iteration was [that Kiriko was] her long-lost sister, but we scrapped that idea because we wanted our worldview to feel a bit bigger but still connected. We landed on [Kiriko being] a family friend, kind of a niece, kind of a relationship between these two.
“Ever since we worked on Kanezaka, we had already thought about her and shaped her personality, and how she fits into the Overwatch universe, the downfall of the Shimada clan and Hashimoto’s takeover… She’s just kind of a part of a teenage girl.” Group of vigilantes protecting the community.”
Kiriko’s personality in surveillance 2 derived from a variety of sources of inspiration including Kaoru Kamiya, the kendo teacher (and love interest) from the manga/anime Rurouuni Kenshin. According to Min, the storytelling team wanted to adapt Kiriko’s personality in some ways to fit her playstyle. Kiriko combines attack and support with an attitude to match: “in your face” in a fight, but also traditional, reserved and dryly funny.
“It was really fun balancing those two opposite personalities,” Min said. “I think we had a lot of fun delivering that dry, flatter tone because that’s what we’ve always wanted, it’s just very difficult to get that in.” to balance the soundscape of our game. They only have a few seconds to really give players pleasure, so they have to be larger than life… so try to get them [Kiriko’s] dry humor was really challenging.”
Min added: “There it is [a Kiriko] Interaction with D.Va which I really enjoy just because it really shows our optimistic future of the Overwatch world. They’re both very strong women – they’re both very outspoken. So there’s a line where D.Va says, “Can they get anything done without us?” and Kiriko says, “It’s a full-time job being the able ones.” I’ve definitely had those conversations with my girlfriends, and I like to infuse that into our world.”
Min said the voice actress brought Sally Amaki, who has spoken for anime and is a 24/7 member of the virtual singing group [Kiriko] to live.”
“This is her first playwork so there was a learning curve because vocally [games have] very different delivery,” Min recalled. “But she was just such a champ – she went through four hour late night sessions like nothing and would say: Oh, yes, I have a concert tomorrowbecause she’s part of a J-Pop idol group.”
As for Kiriko’s future, Min was hesitant to say where her story – and that of her Shimada brother friends – will lead. But with the Hashimoto clan, as seen in Kiriko’s animated short, potentially serving as good cannon fodder for a PvE mode, one can imagine the game’s ninja trio teaming up to take on the streets of Kanezaka next year to clean up.
“She will definitely play a key role in what happens in Kanezaka in terms of the downfall of the Shimada clan and the Hashimoto’s terrorizing the neighborhood,” Min said. “The brothers will definitely not sit still either, as the clan who overpowered them continues to terrorize what was once their territory.”