Overwatch’s Anran redesign fixes her controversial ‘baby face’ in Season 2: ‘This process has really helped dial in the next set of heroes’

Following the reveal of Anran’s in-game model in Overwatch Reign of Talon Season 1, there were calls from both fans and her voice actress for her model to be redesigned. Simply put, she looked too young and inexperienced compared to her brother Wuyang and her early appearance in his comic. The Overwatch team responded by promising an updated look for Anran, which was planned to arrive later in the season.

It’s a bit behind schedule (Mizuki got a surprise jawline buff first), but Blizzard has shared Anran’s new look which will arrive when Season 2 launches on Tuesday, April 14. The post reiterates that Anran “didn’t fully land as the fiery and fierce sister of Wuyang that [the team] hoped she would,” and shares a video by game director Aaron Keller explaining the changes.

“We think she could come across older,” Keller says, “and that her original version was too innocent and playful.” To address this, Blizzard has tweaked her eyes, eyebrows, and mouth to “move away from that baby face look and expression.” One of the most impactful changes is actually in her posture, coming across much more confident than before.

(Image credit: Blizzard)

This change has largely been well-received so far, addressing the many concerns players had with Anran’s original model. In fact, Anran’s voice actress, Fareeha Andersen, followed up the post saying “So grateful for this update…Thank you Team 4 and the Overwatch community.” However, there are still a few players annoyed that she doesn’t look quite like her first comic appearance, though I’d chalk that partly down to art style differences.

Keller closes by explaining that this process of redesigning a character to better match their personality has “really helped the team dial in” the next heroes on the way—there are still five more heroes coming this year. So there are potentially some tweaks going on behind the scenes to unrevealed characters as a result.

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