Overwatch’s big 2026 revamp has largely been seen as a success, yet many players weren’t happy with the design of new hero Anran’s face. They thought she looked different to how she appeared in a cinematic trailer, more baby-faced, and that she exhibited ‘same face syndrome’ and looked like many other feminine characters in the game as well.
Overwatch fans requested a redesign and Blizzard listened, and Anran’s new look is now ready to reveal, a week before the launch of Season 2.
Game director Aaron Keller briefly discussed the changes and thanked the community for pushing the development team in the right direction. “We moved away from that baby face,” he admitted while describing fire-fan-wielding Anran as “confident, determined, fierce, and a natural-born leader”.
At first glance, the differences seem subtle, especially if you go back to the original animated short where she debuted (pictured above) a more distinct look. But as carefully detailed by a second X/Twitter post, she now lands closer to the original vision.
A quick look at the immediate reaction to the reveal shows players are still divided over her new face and posture. Some claim she still “looks the same” while others are happy with the slight redesign and ready to move on. If you ask me, I think Blizzard played this as safe as possible, trying not to disrupt the character’s already released skins and overall in-game look. Anran may never look exactly like she did originally, but at least she no longer feels like Tracer or Juno’s lost twin.
In the brief video, Keller also encouraged players to continue to share their feedback as new characters arrive: “We have five more heroes coming in this year, and we want all of them to feel true to who they are.” The next one will be revealed tomorrow, 8th April, to hype everyone ahead of next week’s Season 2 kickoff.