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Overwatch teases something new via robo-prodigy, Efi

Numbani's AI genius

Looks like Blizzard are teasing something to do with a new character for Overwatch [official site]. They've put up an "interview" with 11-year-old robotic engineering prodigy, Efi Oladele, which is clearly teasing something on the robotics/AI front.

To be honest, as long as I never have to pick through a Sombra-style interminable ARG reveal event again I'm probably fine with whatever Efi's interview presages.

The fictional Q&A is centred around Oladele being awarded a prestigious grant and what she might then go on to do with it. If you're a fan of Blizzard's reveal process or Overwatch lore the whole thing will be of interest. Similarly if you just like that Blizz are making their robo-genius a small girl from Numbani. For everyone else, it's this bit:

Speaking of which, do you have any plans for what you're going to do with your grant? New computer? College tuition?

Oh... I have an idea...

No hint?

It's a secret for now… but my parents are taking me on a trip to celebrate! It'll be my first time flying, so I can't wait.

Given the wording and given it doesn't seem likely Blizzard would want to stride merrily into a "we added a child soldier to our roster" PR bunfight the prevailing theory is that Oladele will be building the next hero or the next whatever the heck it is rather than head to the battlefield herself.

That said there are maybe some ways they could still involve Oladele in an indirect way, or make it explicit that she's somehow not dying or killing. Alternatively it might skip forward in time and, I dunno, have her as a grown up going on to transplant her consciousness into a robo body like in that X-Files episode where people start uploading their consciousnesses to the internet. Or maybe she used the grant to start the Omnica Corporation which then led to that Omnic Crisis (the details of which I periodically look up and forget but if my current memory serves it was something vaguely like the Aug Incident in Deus Ex).

There's also the fact that this might not even be a hero. It could be some kind of robotic-themed map or gear or... Look. We reached the sum total of what I know about this ^^ way back up there.

Unless this is somehow still part of that bloody Sombra reveal and even the addition of the actual hero to the game hasn't stopped that confounded ARG.

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About the Author

Philippa Warr

Former Staff Writer

Pip wrote for Rock Paper Shotgun between 2014-2017, covering everything from MOBAs, hero brawlers and indie curios. She also had a keen interest in the artistry of video game creation, and was very partial to keeping us informed of the latest developments in British TV show Casualty.

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