If you thought Blizzard’s handling of the Sombra and Ana reveals were frustrating, the slow grind towards hero 24 has been excruciating for the Overwatch faithful.
Earlier this week, Blizzard released on its fictional Atlas News news outlet an interview with Efi Oladele, a scientist from Numbani (that’s the map that carries the Doomfist on the payload).
In the interview, it’s revealed that Efi had made huge strides in development and innovation of robotics and artificial intelligence at the ripe old age of 11.
“Well, I’ve always been interested. After my mom and dad got me my first robotics kit, I became obsessed with putting together little drones. When I started to get good at it, I tried to build robots to do my chores and help around the house. My parents think it’s cheating… It’s no fair! (laughs)”
The hottest theory going around right now is that Efi is working on a new hero, and considering the connection to robotics and AI, it looks set to be a new Omnic hero.
Earlier this month, hope for a Doomfist reveal looked lost as murmurs of an Ilios native joining the roster began to surface.
Those rumours have since died down, and the Overwatch community is clamouring for any and all information regarding the 24th hero. Game director, Jeff Kaplan, saying that the hero isn’t who we think it is certainly hasn’t helped the cause.
We could be getting closer to a reveal, though, and all signs point to Numbani, the home of Efi and perhaps the breading ground for the 24th hero.
Firstly, something rather small, but perhaps significant in the grander scheme of things.
Blizzard made some sneaky changes to the arrivals board in the spawn area on the Numbani map in the PTR. Note that a number of “Remarks” have been changed, and that Sydney, Singapore and Taipei have been added to the list.
Now this at first appears to have little to do with the new hero, but it has to be more than just a coincidence that all of a sudden, just as Efi and rumours of a new character surface, the arrivals board gets updated.
There has now been another update to the arrivals board, and it’s enough to have even modest Overwatch fans giddy with excitement.
[BREAKING] OR15 defense units destroyed in confrontation with unidentified assailant at Numbani airport. No civilian casualties reported. pic.twitter.com/3XuXbCCugh
— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) February 24, 2017
As you can see in that photo, it has Efi’s name captioned in the bottom right-hand corner.
Now we know that Efi is definitely involved in some way with the 24th hero, although it appears unlikely she will in fact be that hero.
Shortly after the board changed, players started noticing a changing news ticker throughout the map that reported a number of attacks. Now we have an attack on Numbani by OR15 Defense Units.
Who is the “unidentified assailant” mentioned in the above tweet? Judging by the damage to the screen and wall, it has to be Doomfist, right?
Efi mentioned in her interview that she was about to go on a plane for the first time after winning the Adawe Foundation’s Genius Grant. This would suggest the photo and attack happened shortly after the interview was published.
What are your thoughts? Who will the 24th hero be? Sound off in the comments below!
