Overwatch 2 Kiriko animated short leaks ahead of official hero reveal

Kiriko, Overwatch 2’s next support hero, has had her entire animated short leaked online way before its intended release date. It gives us a look at her story, as well as a vague look at some of her abilities.

Kiriko, the next character coming to the Overwatch roster, will be introduced with Overwatch 2’s first battle pass as confirmed in an announcement from Blizzard.

However, the Kiriko leaks don’t stop there. An Overwatch fan has released the entire animated trailer for this support hero early. While it’s in an early, unfinished state, it still shows us a lot about the next hero coming to Overwatch’s roster.

Kiriko is Overwatch 2’s next support hero

Kiriko’s a support hero, but the trailer might deceive you into thinking otherwise at first. She throws Kunai and gets up close and personal with some thugs trying to attack her her.

However, her support abilities really come into play as the trailer gets going.

An old man who steps in and tries to save his grandchild gets shot. Kiriko then summons a talisman and places it on his chest, reviving him. Additionally, Kiriko enhances the combat abilities of both the old man and his granddaughter and enables them to fight off their attackers.

It’s as of yet unclear what her exact abilities are, but it’s clear that she’ll have a wide array of supportive-oriented abilities in game.

Kiriko’s usage of kunai and torii gates, as well as her garb that resembles a shrine maiden, makes this character one whose design is deeply rooted in traditional Japanese culture. Fan reception so far has been mixed.

It’s been a very long time since Overwatch last saw a support champion. The most recent release was Baptiste in February 2019, making this the first new support character in over 3 years.

With Soujourn being added for DPS players and Junker Queen being added for Tank players, it was only a matter of time until we got a new support hero as well.