A Behind-The-Scenes Look At The Overwatch Animated Short “Rise And Shine”

Remember that tear-jerking Overwatch animated short that Blizzard released last month. That’s right, the one where we learn about Mei’s tragic origin story. Blizzard has just released a new video which gives fans a look at the work that went into making the short.

“Mei’s story is actually one that we’ve really been excited to tell. We’re trying to find a hook into this character, and what makes her tic, and what would be an interesting struggle for her. She has some characteristics which are very obvious. She is cheerful, she is optimistic, she’s extremely cute but we’ve always had these ideas about what lies beneath the surface: the tragedy in her backstory. This piece is a lot about finding out what those characteristics are when it comes to Mei.”

Overwatch Game Director Jeff Kaplan talks about the importance of these animated shorts in introducing players to the game universe, telling the story of each character, and making fans connect emotionally with them. It was extremely important to dig in to who was Mei the human being and how did she become the hero she is,” explains Kaplan. “All that is as important as how much damage does the left-click on her gun do.”

You can watch the behind-the-scenes video below. We’ve also included Mei’s “Rise and Shine” animated short just in case you missed it.