Overwatch's 'Same Face Syndrome' Has Claimed Another Victim

"However, it's gotten especially bad for the game's East Asian heroes since Kiriko came onto the scene in 2022. Now Anran, one of the new heroes joining the game next week, is the latest victim of this phenomenon. Anran is a fire-wielding hero and the sister of the game's water-bending support hero Wuyang . As such, she appeared in animated trailers, comics, and other lore before she was implemented into the game itself."

"Before her in-game appearance, she was depicted with a longer nose and sharper features, and overall had a distinct face compared to other characters on the roster. Now that we've seen her in the game itself, however, fans have pointed out that her face is much more round and her nose has been shrunken down to the same button nose Kiriko and Juno have."

Character design across Blizzard's hero shooter has become increasingly homogeneous, with particular issues among female characters. East Asian heroes have shown converging facial proportions since Kiriko's 2022 release. Anran, introduced as a fire-wielding sister to water-bender Wuyang, was portrayed in pre-release media with a longer nose and sharper features. The final in-game model presents a rounder face and a shrunken 'button' nose similar to Kiriko and Juno. Fans compared pre-release art to the in-game model, joked that she looks like an alternate skin for Kiriko, and criticized a pattern of repeated facial designs.

Read at Kotaku