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== Reception == |
== Reception == |
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Though Sombra's tease through an ARG received a mixed response from fans, Allegra Frank of ''[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]]'' wrote that "''Overwatch'' players feel like Sombra was worth the wait."<ref name=Frank16>{{cite web|last=Frank|first=Allegra|url=https://www.polygon.com/2016/11/4/13526814/overwatch-sombra-boop|title=Everyone just wants to be booped by Sombra|work=[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]]|date=November 4 |
Though Sombra's tease through an ARG received a mixed response from fans, Allegra Frank of ''[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]]'' wrote that "''Overwatch'' players feel like Sombra was worth the wait."<ref name=Frank16>{{cite web|last=Frank|first=Allegra|url=https://www.polygon.com/2016/11/4/13526814/overwatch-sombra-boop|title=Everyone just wants to be booped by Sombra|work=[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]]|date=November 4, 2016|accessdate=May 24, 2023}}</ref> |
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Brendan Caldwell of ''[[Rock Paper Shotgun]]'' called her a "wonderful" character with a "generally well-rounded design |
Brendan Caldwell of ''[[Rock Paper Shotgun]]'' called her a "wonderful" character with a "generally well-rounded design."<ref name=Caldwell>{{cite web|last=Caldwell|first=Brendan|url=https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/overwatch-sombra-arcade|title= The problem with Sombra & the joy of Overwatch Arcade |work=[[Rock Paper Shotgun]]|date=November 25, 2016|accessdate=May 24, 2023}}</ref> |
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Writing about Sombra's characterization, Nathan Grayson of ''[[Kotaku]]'' called her "basically the ''Overwatch'' version of the [[DDOS]] script kiddies who bring down services like [[Steam (service)|Steam]] and [[PlayStation Network|PSN]]. She takes shit you rely on, she breaks it, and then she disappears. In the right hands, I think she's gonna be devastating."<ref name=Grayson>{{cite web|last=Grayson|first=Nathan|url=https://kotaku.com/overwatchs-sombra-is-fun-to-play-and-very-powerful-1788599302|title=Overwatch's Sombra Is Fun To Play And Very Powerful|work=[[Kotaku]]|date=November 4, 2016|accessdate=May 24, 2023}}</ref> |
Writing about Sombra's characterization, Nathan Grayson of ''[[Kotaku]]'' called her "basically the ''Overwatch'' version of the [[DDOS]] script kiddies who bring down services like [[Steam (service)|Steam]] and [[PlayStation Network|PSN]]. She takes shit you rely on, she breaks it, and then she disappears. In the right hands, I think she's gonna be devastating."<ref name=Grayson>{{cite web|last=Grayson|first=Nathan|url=https://kotaku.com/overwatchs-sombra-is-fun-to-play-and-very-powerful-1788599302|title=Overwatch's Sombra Is Fun To Play And Very Powerful|work=[[Kotaku]]|date=November 4, 2016|accessdate=May 24, 2023}}</ref> |
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Her iteration in ''Overwatch 2'' also received praise. Writing for ''[[Den of Geek]]'', Matthew Byrd included her among the best DPS heroes in the game, opining that she maintained her positioned as "the ultimate disruptor," with changes to her kit making her "more flexible than she was before."<ref name=Byrd>{{cite web|last=Byrd|first=Matthew|url=https://www.denofgeek.com/games/overwatch-2-every-character-hero-ranked-worst-best-meta-tier-list/|title=Overwatch 2: Every Character Ranked Worst to Best|work=[[Den of Geek]]|date=October 22, 2022|accessdate=May 24, 2023}}</ref> Video game media writers noted Sombra was strong pick in the game early after the game's release.<ref name=Byrd/><ref name=Manske>{{cite web|last=Manske|first=Nadine|url=https://dotesports.com/overwatch/news/overwatch-2-heroes-who-need-changes|title=The top 5 Overwatch 2 heroes who need changes|work=[[Dot Esports]]|date=January 21, 2023|accessdate=May 24, 2023}}</ref> Similar to critic consensus at the time of her release in the original ''Overwatch'', Byrd noted that "most players" will take some time to learn how to play Sombra in the sequel effectively.<ref name=Byrd/> Nadine Manske of ''[[Dot Esports]]'' noted that Sombra lacked a legitimate role in mid-tier gameplay, with the character feeling either useless or very overpowered when in the right situations.<ref name=Manske/> Manske also noted that the nature of Sombra's playstyle makes her challenging to properly balance.<ref name=Manske/> |
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== References == |
== References == |
Revision as of 22:35, 28 May 2023
Sombra | |
---|---|
Overwatch character | |
First appearance | Infiltration (2016) |
First game | Overwatch (2016) |
Voiced by | Carolina Ravassa[1] |
In-universe information | |
Full name | Olivia Colomar |
Nationality | Mexican |
Sombra is a fictional character in the Overwatch universe, a 2016 video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. In the game's narrative, she is an exceptional black bag operation hacker from Mexico that had joined Talon, a criminal organization aligned against Overwatch. In game, Sombra has stealth-based abilities to move around the battlefield, and is able to hack any opposing character to briefly prevent them from using their special abilities.
Sombra was the second new character to be added to Overwatch after launch, and was introduced formally during the November 2016 BlizzCon event. However, she had been designed and tested internally well before the game's launch, and Blizzard had established an alternate reality game that began within Overwatch's open beta in 2016 that teased her character. Though Blizzard considered the alternate reality game to have drawn interest in Sombra, they found the prolonged campaign taxed players' attention, and subsequently have limited new character promotions to only a few weeks ahead of their formal announcements.
Development and release
The concept of Sombra had been one of the original characters in Overwatch's cast, but as they developed the game, they found her skill kit did not fit in with the other heroes they had at that time.[1]
With developers admitting she was a "tricky" character to balance,[2] she started off as a hero character with a hacking ability as to keep opponents debuffed, according to lead character designer Geoff Goodman.[3] When being initially developed, the developers had her designed as a support character.[2] Goodman noted that they found in gameplay testing that hacking-only skills were not "super great" and started to consider building the character around stealth, incorporating the hacking aspect as part of the character's abilities. They had previously tried a stealth character with Genji, having had given him an ability to invisibly move behind enemies, stun them, and then kill their foes with another skill, but found this only useful to deal with opponents that were separated from their team members, making the stealth aspect not fun to play.[3] Using this past criticism, they gave similar stealth abilities to Sombra, but in combination with the hacking skills as to be a more effective contribution to the team regardless of their opponents' style.[3] Sombra's initial base form saw her invisibility as a constant, passive ability in which she could break her stealth at a certain radius as she approached closer to other players.[2]
Goodman noted that they were initially hesitant about incorporating skill debuffs into the game, knowing that players would likely react negatively to having skills stripped even for a short period of time. However, they were emboldened by the successful playtesting of Ana and her sleep-inducing ability which they were able to tweak quickly in response to feedback, and believed they would be able to manage Sombra's hacking skills in the same manner.[3]
In terms of Overwatch's characters, they wanted to bring more villain-like characters to the game, according to Goodman.[3] Goodman considers Sombra to be "evil in the sense that she's kind of only out for herself", but will stay loyal to her employer, Talon, as well as the situation continues to work out for her and further her own agendas.[3] Blizzard had planned a long-term alternate reality game (ARG) for Sombra as early as the open beta period for Overwatch.[4] According to Goodman, who had planned out the initial stages of the ARG, the goal was to have players "get an idea of who she is and a little bit of her personality before we even unveiled her", and playing off her nature as a hacking character.[5]
Casting for Sombra was done prior to her launch. Carolina Ravassa was part of one of those casting calls. Though Blizzard was looking for Mexican actors specifically with a Mexico City accent, Ravassa, who is originally from Colombia, had developed a northern Mexican accent, and used it during the casting call, gaining the role.[1] Voice casting director Andrea Toyia then worked with Ravassa to tune the accent to where they wanted it.[1] Sombra's dialog was written by Chu with help from members of Blizzard's localization team in Mexico to include local references.[1]
In October, leaked images containing references to Sombra were posted onto Reddit.[6] One such image claimed to show a character model of Sombra and a partial biography of the character.[7][8] On November 1, a Blizzard store listing was accidentally released and immediately removed. The image featured a character resembling the leaked character model, named Sombra in its filename, and bore the signature of a Blizzard concept artist.[9][10][11]
As planned from its start, the ARG concluded during BlizzCon on November 4, 2016, with the official reveal of Sombra.[12] She was introduced through an animated short played during the convention's opening ceremony, and she was made available for play by attendees on the show floor. It was announced that she would be introduced to the game's public testing region on PC in the following week.[13][14] Sombra was released for all users on November 15, 2016.[15]
Shortly following her release, Kaplan noted changes would be made to her gameplay as she was deemed too "situational".[16] Once in the game's playable roster, Kaplan found that Sombra became prone to over-buffing due to her unique abilities.[17] Even after efforts were made to tweak Sombra's gameplay design, Kaplan admitted that the character was "not 100% where [she needed] to be".[17]
As with other characters, Sombra underwent considerable redesigning for her appearance in Overwatch 2. In 2021, Blizzard received fan backlash for announcements related to changes made to Sombra for the sequel, which were largely buffs to her character including being able to "reveal hacked targets through walls and [having] her hacks no longer remove [her] stealth."[18] Soon after the sequel's October 2022 release into early access, players noted a bug involving Sombra being able to contest the objective on payload maps in a manner which kept her safe from enemy detection.[19]
Gameplay
Sombra is classified under the "Damage" role in Overwatch.[20] She is equipped with a low-damage, high-capacity machine pistol for short-range combat.[21] Her abilities allow her to hack enemies and their turrets, which prevents them from using their special or ultimate abilities or picking up health packs, though they may still use primary skills.[21] Sombra's hacks also relay information about the opponent's health and ultimate ability status to her teammates, as long as they are within line-of-sight of the opponent, for about a minute from the hack.[3] Her hacks can also be applied to health packs, allowing them to recharge at three times their normal speed, while also disabling their use for enemies.[22] While her hacks on enemies are short, lasting six seconds, her hacks on health packs can last for a minute, unless hacked again before this minute runs out.[21][22] Sombra may also put down a "translocator" to teleport, and can turn invisible for an infinite amount of time and gain a burst of speed to hide behind enemy lines to perform her hacks.[3] Her ultimate ability is an EMP blast that deals 10k damage to all enemy barriers and shields, along with hacking enemies in the process.[23]
Lore
Sombra's biography is provided through additional Overwatch media including the Overwatch digital comics. Her real name is Olivia Colomar, revealed in the "Searching" online comic.[24] She was born within the fictional city of Dorado, Mexico, the same year that the Overwatch organization was established, and is a native speaker of Spanish.[25] While young, she lost everything from the Omnic Crisis, and became an orphan. She recognized her talents in hacking and the value of information, and later joined the fictional Los Muertos gang in Dorado. Eventually, she was recruited by Talon, an antagonist organization that includes Reaper and Widowmaker.[7][8][26] As a hacker, she employed the name Sombra, Spanish for "shadow", and eschewed her birth name.[11][20][27]
Reception
Though Sombra's tease through an ARG received a mixed response from fans, Allegra Frank of Polygon wrote that "Overwatch players feel like Sombra was worth the wait."[28]
Brendan Caldwell of Rock Paper Shotgun called her a "wonderful" character with a "generally well-rounded design."[16]
Writing about Sombra's characterization, Nathan Grayson of Kotaku called her "basically the Overwatch version of the DDOS script kiddies who bring down services like Steam and PSN. She takes shit you rely on, she breaks it, and then she disappears. In the right hands, I think she's gonna be devastating."[29]
References
- ^ a b c d e Crecente, Brian (March 20, 2017). "Sombra's voice actor doesn't mind the haters, loves her character". Polygon. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
- ^ a b c "Overwatch's Sombra Started Out OP, Here's How the Devs Fixed Her". GameSpot. November 9, 2016. Retrieved May 24, 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Tack, Daniel (November 11, 2016). "Making Stealth Fun: Blizzard Talks The Creation Of Sombra". Game Informer. Archived from the original on November 14, 2016. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
- ^ McWhertor, Michael (July 6, 2016). "Blizzard releases major hint about Overwatch's next character (update)". Polygon. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
- ^ Grayson, Nathan (November 7, 2016). "Blizzard, On Overwatch's Sombra: 'We're Not Very Good At ARGs'". Kotaku. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
- ^ Skrebels, Joe (October 7, 2016). "Overwatch Halloween Event Appears to Leak". IGN. Retrieved October 18, 2016.
- ^ a b Skrebels, Joe (October 10, 2016). "Next Overwatch Hero Apparently Leaks". IGN. Retrieved October 18, 2016.
- ^ a b McWhertor, Michael (October 8, 2016). "Rumor: Overwatch's Sombra and Halloween event details leak". Polygon. Retrieved October 18, 2016.
- ^ Rosenberg, Adam (November 1, 2016). "Is this Sombra? 'Overwatch' fans discover leaked Blizzard art". Mashable. Retrieved November 1, 2016.
- ^ Hussain, Tamoor (November 1, 2016). "New Overwatch, Diablo 3 Art Appears on Blizzard's Store". GameSpot. Retrieved November 1, 2016.
- ^ a b Lumb, David (November 1, 2016). "Is this Overwatch's new hacker hero?". Engadget. Retrieved November 1, 2016.
- ^ Grayson, Nathan (November 9, 2016). "Blizzard On Overwatch's Sombra, Roadhog's Hook, And Gay Characters". Kotaku. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
- ^ Frank, Allegra (November 4, 2016). "Overwatch's Sombra reveal trailer debuts at BlizzCon". Polygon. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
- ^ D'Anastasio, Cecilia (November 4, 2016). "Blizzard Reveals Sombra, Finally". Kotaku. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
- ^ Grayson, Nathan (November 15, 2016). "Overwatch's Big Sombra Update Is Now Live". Kotaku. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
- ^ a b Caldwell, Brendan (November 25, 2016). "The problem with Sombra & the joy of Overwatch Arcade". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved May 24, 2023.
- ^ a b Bailey, Dustin (April 11, 2018). "Overwatch's Sombra and Doomfist are "not 100% where they need to be"". PCGamesN. Retrieved May 24, 2023.
- ^ Fischer, Tyler (September 25, 2021). "Overwatch 2 Sombra Changes Being Met With Backlash". ComicBook.com. Retrieved May 24, 2023.
- ^ Allsop, Ken (November 11, 2022). "Overwatch 2 Sombra bug lets her contest the payload forever". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on November 11, 2022. Retrieved May 24, 2023.
- ^ a b "Heroes – Sombra". Play Overwatch. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
- ^ a b c Wilde, Tyler (November 4, 2016). "Here are all of Sombra's abilities: what they do, and how we think they'll be used". PC Gamer. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
- ^ a b Nunneley, Stephany (November 6, 2016). "Overwatch – here's an in-game look at Sombra in action and more information on her abilities". VG247. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
- ^ Pereira, Chris (November 4, 2016). "Overwatch's Next Character, Sombra, Officially Revealed". GameSpot. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
- ^ http://comic.playoverwatch.com/issues/overwatch/15/en-us/pdf/comic-overwatch-searching.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ Frank, Allegra (August 24, 2016). "Overwatch's Sombra mystery appears to be coming to a close". Polygon. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
- ^ Purchase, Robert (May 20, 2016). "Yes, Overwatch has a story. Here's everything you need to know". Eurogamer. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
- ^ D'Anastasio, Cecilia (August 12, 2016). "Overwatch Fans' Sombra Investigation Reaps A Skull Code". Kotaku. Retrieved September 23, 2016.
- ^ Frank, Allegra (November 4, 2016). "Everyone just wants to be booped by Sombra". Polygon. Retrieved May 24, 2023.
- ^ Grayson, Nathan (November 4, 2016). "Overwatch's Sombra Is Fun To Play And Very Powerful". Kotaku. Retrieved May 24, 2023.