Kirim Son, a Korean artist, has recently shared some incredible Overwatch fan art that is currently making waves across the fandom. The art isn’t just a fun rendition of Son’s favorite characters, either. The art is a set of three original characters, fully designed with power sets, backgrounds, and even histories with the canon Overwatch cast members. But there’s another hook as well, that makes these concepts unique and special. Each of these characters has a form of physical impairment, and Son has designed their powersets and gameplay styles around them. Not only does each character, in theory, drastically alter how Overwatch plays, but they do so in ways that (again in theory) make Overwatch more accessible for people dealing with the same conditions in real life.
The first character is Jalkikuva Laine, who cannot hear but has the supernatural ability to “see” sound. She attacks with sound as well, using a Sonic Blaster weapon to echo locate enemies, coat allies, and even transmit decoys. “In-game,” the player using Jalkikuva gets no sound, but extra visualization on-screen, including footsteps, gunfire, and more.
Next is Synæs, a character who is blind, and not only has a special cane designed by Mercy, but is also accompanied by a dog named Lys who helps in combat. Synæs has the ability to latch onto other Tank characters as a “guide,” then teleport to them on command for support. For this character, the player’s screen would be black, but the dog and her other tools serve as ways to help her set up powerful area of effect abilities.
Finally, Kjell Berg is an ex-cop who was permanently disabled after a car accident. Rejecting cybernetic alterations, Kjell instead uses a wheelchair and other tech designed by Torbjörn to get around and participate in Overwatch violence. Kjell’s play is all about the wheelchair, which he can use to turn himself into a high-speed projectile.
The descriptions above merely scratch the surface of Son’s in-depth work on these character concepts. This is some of the most ambitious Overwatch fan art I’ve ever seen, and hopefully it gets Son hired somewhere.
[Source: Kirim Son]
