Blizzard Entertainment released its latest "Overwatch" animated short film featuring one of its characters, the weather-altering Mei and her adorable robot, Snowball.
The short is titled "Rise and Shine," and details Mei's backstory as an Overwatch scientist at Ecopoint: Antarctica. It depicts the sad tale of how the heroine lost her companions and finds out that Overwatch has been disbanded.
The video starts with Mei recording a journal footage explaining that the crew is in the middle of a huge snow storm that has not let up, forcing them to miss their resupply window. With the team running low on rations, the crew's captain, Opara, has decided to have the team hibernate in cryogenic sleep.
After some time, Mei wakes up and activates the crew's trusty droid Snowball. She finds that the atmospheric conditions have become much worse than they had predicted. She also discovers that the sensors have gathered a massive amount of data, and to her shock, Snowball informs her that she had just awoken from a nine-year sleep.
The shock turns to horror as she discovers that all of her companions have died during their hibernation. Alone, and with the facility's batteries running low, Mei uses what resources she has to create her Endothermic Blaster, which can be seen in the game. She uses this to repair a collapsing communications tower and receive transmissions from whatever is left of Overwatch.
The tear-jerking backstory ends with a note of hope, as Mei sets out with Snowball and her Endothermic Blaster in tow, hoping to go back to the world and help save it after almost a decade of sleep.
The short is indicative of Blizzard's commitment into fleshing out the world of "Overwatch" and bringing to life relatable characters with rich backstories. "Rise and Shine's" emotional ride is reminiscent of "The Last Bastion," which told the story of the bird-loving robot.
