Old Test Footage Of Overwatch Released - It's Delightfully Awful!

A new map (and wow, what a map it is), a new character, AND a new animated short? Blizzcon this year treated Overwatch very well with tons of goodies for fans of the hit FPS to enjoy. But sometimes you have to look back and chuckle at the long hard road to get to where we are. Overwatch had a lot of bumps along the way to become the game we know and love and at this year's Blizzard celebration, Game Director Jeff Kaplan showed some 'interesting' test footage of the early version of the game. Spoiler: Tracer has lasers shooting out of her eyeballs. No, seriously.

One attendee managed to capture the Overwatch panel at this year's festivities, and even Kaplan himself couldn't help chuckling a little bit at some of the more bizarre twists and turns the game took during development. Reaper's death blossom? Infinitely less cool looking during its conception. That's OK, though ... we still love him.

"It's pretty ugly," he jokes - and ... well, he said it - not us. Still, it's very interesting to see the early footage from back in 2013 with Kaplan's commentary. It was even interesting seeing Tracer's "Mickey Mouse hands" during the early stages of conceptual visuals. And for Reaper mains, this test video is a dream because there are literally Reapers everywhere.

The panel also gave some solid insight into how the heroes evolved in character design both aesthetically and with their abilities. There are a ton of canned ideas, we can't help but to wonder what would have happened if some of these had stuck around?

If you haven't gotten into the world of Overwatch yet? Now is a fantastic time. There are tons of new additions coming to the FPS with special events happening on a consistent rotation throughout the year. The popular shooter is now available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.