If 8-bit skins can exist ~( ˘▾˘~)

General Discussion
1

Then anime cell-shaded skins can exist too. :blush: :clap:

Ya’ll remember that absolute fire collaboration trailer they did with Cowboy Bebop Overwatch 2 x Cowboy Bebop | Collaboration Trailer , yes, that one. For the first time in a very long time, after watching that, I was actually very excited to buy some Overwatch cosmetics. What’s crazy is that I never even watched the show; the skins just looked that good to me.

And then… they dropped the actual “official” skins that they were going to be putting into the game and said that the characters were only going to be just “cosplaying” as the Cowboy Bebop characters; this was absolutely soul-crushing to me. I went from having my wallet at the ready to now barely being able to look at the skins without utter shame and disappointment. Lol

This post is not about anime skins, though. It’s more so about the Overwatch team still trying to hold dearly onto their old conservative values of not trying to muddle up the characters’ “identities” too much instead of giving their artists the free rein to create more interesting and transformative skins.

The 8-bit skins in the battle pass are great. They’re transformative, they’re interesting to look at and they should be the standard for all skins going forward.

Obviously, not all of the Overwatch 2 skins have been boring; there have definitely been some pretty cool skins here and there but for the most part, the overwhelming majority of them have been just cloth changes with very basic alterations. (Don’t look at the store right now or else I might make my point too well.)

Hopefully, in the future we’re going to see more transformative skins with more enticing themes and alterations.

I would highly encourage the Overwatch team to loosen up the chains on their artists and let them go nuts and make some cool stuff. :ok_hand:

2 Likes
2

The 8 bit skins are still the same artsyle as all other cosmetics you know? They’re just angular in shape

2 Likes
3

No. Want anime shooters? There’s like a million of them on steam.
Plus the esthetics aren’t the same. 8 bit is a gaming thing.
Anime is. . . an anime thing.

4

Honestly, I wish more of them looked like Rein’s skin. His is the only one with an actual ‘game’ vibe to me; all the others are like… weird cyber-retrowave aesthetic. Some of it looks like they got halfway into doing a second cyberpunk type season before they tried to pivot it to retro games (Sombra, Zen, Reaper especially)

5

. . . That’s what Null Sector is. A whole cyberpunk’ish themed faction within overwatch lol

6

Look at Rein’s 8-bit face and then look at his normal face.

Does that look “normal” to you? Lol

His entire aesthetic has been transformed. It’s the same with the other 8-bit skins but to a much lesser degree.

7

The cell/anime/toon shading that’s seen in some older games like Zelda Wind Waker, Genshin Impact or Tales of Vesperia, is technically impossible to do under the game’s current lighting engine.

For it to replicate the original Cowboy Bebop aesthetic, you would need a brand new lighting engine just for those skins, and Blizzard would not have the time or money to pull that off.

8

Rein looks different, but the way Rein’s skin looks alongside other skins still makes it look like it’s from this game

You can tell it’s from Overwatch because it looks like it’s from Overwatch

9

Yeah, this wouldn’t surprise me at all considering they needed to develop new tech just for the galactic weapons.

Welp, I guess it’s time for Blizzard to convert Overwatch to UE5 so I can get muh anime skins. :sunglasses:

I’m not saying to turn Rein into a duck; I just would like to see that “difference” that you’re seeing to be more present in more skins moving forward. :ok_hand: