After a mountain of backlash back in February, Blizzard announced it would be updating new Overwatch hero Anran’s face to look less like a Kiriko or Juno clone and more like the version of the fire-wielding hero that appeared in comics and short stories before she came to the game. Now, the team has revealed the altered face model before it officially goes live in-game in season 2.
Game director Aaron Keller posted a video on the game’s social media channels to share the updated version of her face, along with a message explaining some of the thinking behind the redesign.
“We want our heroes to feel unique, but we also want their visuals to match their personalities, and we feel like we didn’t quite land that when Anran first released. We think she could come across older and that her original version was too innocent and playful. Anran is confident, determined, fierce, and a natural born leader, and we want her visuals in-game to convey that personality.”
— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) April 6, 2026
As Keller points out, the changes to her face also make her look more like Wuyang. The changes include a more defined jawline and cheek bones, and move the design away from the round “babyface” of her original design. The team also changed a few parts of her visual presentation, including giving her a more upright, “confident” pose in the hero select screen. The changes are subtle, but you can see the difference when looking at both versions side by side. From this angle, however, it still doesn’t look like her nose is as big as it was in early representations of the character. Maybe that will be more apparent at different angles. We’ll see how fans react to it when it finally comes to the game at the beginning of season 2, which starts on April 14.
