Since Overwatch is mostly devoid from story on the surface, the average player likely has no idea what happened to transform agent Amelie Lacroix into Widowmaker, the cold-hearted, blue-skinned sniper who works for the opposing side. But a leaked trailer for what appears to be Overwatch’s next major event, called “Insurrection,” shows that this part of the story will make it into the game, at least in a small way.
A spray of a happy, adorable newlywed couple — unrecognizable as any of the game’s roster of heroes — is seen in a quick montage. As cute as they are, it’s a depressing reminder of what exactly happened to Widowmaker to turn her into one of Team Overwatch’s most challenging foes.
Here’s the gist: Widowmaker, neé Amelie, worked for Overwatch alongside her husband Gérard. Talon, a terrorist operation intent on taking the group down, had its sights set on taking out Gérard. When that failed to work, they turned to his wife. They didn’t kill her, obviously; instead, they brainwashed her into a sleeper agent who thinks only to serve her team.
When ordered to take Gérard out, she obeyed. After that, she remained on permanent attack mode. That’s the character we’ve come to know and even love since Overwatch’s launch last May: the bloodthirsty, emotionally numb assassin, whose true self has been lost to the void. (Blizzard’s official bio even says that her skin turned blue because the brainwashing slowed down her heart rate by so much. Yikes.)
It’s not Widowmaker’s fault that she’s like this. We can’t blame her for what Talon did to her psyche; they’ve turned her into a human-shaped weapon. But the portrait of the happy couple is enough to break our hearts all the same. Sprays have a funny way of doing that — remember those matching Pharah and Reinhardt sprays?
“Insurrection” is set to debut in-game tomorrow, April 11. Widowmaker will also get a pre-brainwashing skin, so we’ll be able to play as her without her recognizable blue skin.