Skip to main content

Bastion might look like a killing machine, but the latest 'Overwatch' short shows he's a sweetie

Bastion can be the bane of many Overwatch players’ existence. His ridiculously powerful turret, tank ability, and self-healing can make him seem like a murderous, crazed killing machine, but the robot does have a softer side, and Blizzard’s latest animated short proves it.

Titled, appropriately enough, “The Last Bastion,” the fifth Overwatch shows shows everyone’s favorite robot hibernating deep within the forest until a friendly bird — who you’ve likely spotted on Bastion’s shoulder in the game — wakes it from its long slumber.

Related Videos

After years of fighting in the Omnic Crisis, which took the lives of all of its fellow Bastion units, this Bastion just needs a friend. The contrast between the calm, inviting wilderness, filled with still ponds and flowers, and the walking death machine that is Bastion, is truly remarkable, and it helps to reinforce that you can’t judge someone on their outside appearance alone.

Though a false alarm does cause Bastion to recall its time in the war, as it unloads several hundred bullets into the treeline, its bird companion doesn’t lose hope in it, and convinces it to abandon its plan for revenge on those that destroyed its friends and instead return home.

It’s certainly an uplifting and heartwarming tale, but it’s one that Blizzard hasn’t really attempted to insert into Overwatch itself. Bastion is portrayed as a lighthearted and friendly robot in the game, but it kills just as many enemies as anyone else, and doesn’t seem to show any remorse for doing so. Perhaps future animated shorts will touch on this disparity, or even write the game’s competitive battle off as a training simulation to keep heroes in fighting shape.

If you haven’t played Overwatch in a while, now is the perfect time to jump back in. New character Ana and her healing sniper rifle add a new layer of strategy to the game, and the upcoming map “Eichenwalde” was recently announced at Gamescom.

Overwatch is now available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.

Editors' Recommendations

Looking for a boost, last-place team adds Overwatch League’s first female player
overwatch league signs female pro shanghai dragons gamer geguri

Overwatch is known for its diverse cast of male and female characters with rich backstories. The Overwatch League, however, kicked off its first season earlier this year with 12 all-male teams. The Shanghai Dragons, China's team of Overwatch pros, has changed that by signing 19-year-old Kim Se-Yeon.

Better known by her username "Geguri" in Overwatch circles, Se-Yeon is best known for playing as Zarya, but also spends time playing as D.Va and Roadhog. Geguri has also earned the nicknames "World's Best Zarya" and "God Zarya" for achieving a remarkable 80 percent win-rate on the Korean Overwatch server while playing as the popular tank character. Geguri is expected to play as both Zarya and D.Va in competition. Previously, she reached the group stages in APEX season four, a separate Overwatch professional tournament.

Read more
Bell flying taxi shows what commuting above the traffic might one day look like
Bell flying taxi

The omnipresence of technology has increasingly attracted unlikely companies to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), and this year is no exception. At CES 2018, Texas-based Bell became the first major helicopter manufacturer to exhibit at the trade show. It's showing off its vision of the on-demand flying taxi the aerospace industry is slowly but surely moving toward.

Referred to as the Bell flying taxi, it takes the form of a streamlined fuselage with a large glass surface and a pair of sliding doors on either side. Outside, it looks a little bit like a helicopter from a science fiction movie. It's what's inside that counts, however. The air taxi offers space for four passengers in a futuristic cabin that looks more like what you'd find in a luxury car like the Mercedes-Benz S-Class than a helicopter. The front part of the cabin houses a panel with several touchscreens that display information about the helicopter and its surroundings, as well as entertainment for the passengers.

Read more
Blizzard’s animated short films could lead to a full-length ‘Overwatch’ movie
Overwatch movie

The robotic heroes of Blizzard Entertainment's futuristic online shooter may soon be the stars of an Overwatch movie, thanks to the success of the popular animated short films. The game itself doesn’t offer much in the way of storytelling or character exposition, so Blizzard has filled in some of the gaps with a series of origin stories detailing the various heroes’ rise to power.

The production and direction of the Overwatch animated shorts has always been top-notch, and the gorgeous animation rivals that of Pixar. Eight shorts have been released so far, and they are truly a labor of love for the studio. Some of the clips even played in theaters across the country as part of the game’s launch events.

Read more