Heroes Never Die: ‘Overwatch’ Honors A Fan Killed Before Launch At Lijiang Tower
There are, indeed, heroes both inside the game and in real life. First person shooter game Overwatch honors a deceased fan in their most recent patch.
Overwatch is a multiplayer first person shooter title by developer Blizzard launched in May 2016 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. In Overwatch, you get to play a hero and battle it out with a team against another team of six.
The competition is just getting started!
Learn more about Competitive Play in Overwatch: https://t.co/9pa1XjMBn6 pic.twitter.com/zbhBw1L98W
— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) June 29, 2016
Overwatch recently came out with an Xbox One patch that brought Competitive Play, legacy controls, and all the balance updates that were only available in the PC version. However, while the whole Overwatch-playing community went into a competitive play craze, a few players at Reddit found an Easter egg that, apparently, was put up in honor of a recently-deceased Overwatch fan.
Lijiang Tower is a control map and is one of the locations in Overwatch, built in the heart of a modern Chinese metropolis. After the recent patch, detailed by user Rebirdhk onReddit, the name “??” (Hongyu) is added to one of the space suits on the red side. In addition to the naming of the space suit, the phrase “????” (Heroes never die) was carved on the background of the suit. This was done by Blizzard in honor of Wu Hongyu, the 20-year-old Overwatch fan who was killed right before Overwatch was launched.
According to several Chinese reports and forums, Wu Hongyu caught someone stealing the motorbike of a schoolmate on campus so he decided to hop onto his own motorbike and apprehend the thief. During the chase, Hongyu’s and the thief’s motorbike collided with each other, maybe in Hongyu’s effort to knock the thief off the motorbike, which then led to several injuries that caused internal bleeding. The thief was caught but Hongyu, who was brought to the hospital, passed away shortly.
The chase and the death happened one day before Overwatch was launched. Apparently, Hongyu was a big fan of Overwatch and was eagerly waiting for the game’s launch. Reddit user czhihong posted a group chat on Overwatch, where Hongyu was a part of.
Hongyu: Hey guys, is anyone else really waiting for the launch tomorrow
Friend A: Treasure your life, stay away from drugs ? [This was before the incident and was said as a joke; Equating Overwatch to drugs is a widely known and used Chinese meme]
Hongyu: Have you guys bought the game? I can’t afford the Deluxe edition, so I just got the RMB198 one.
The rest of the messages were written after the incident.
Friend B: Hongyu. Safe journey, take care.
Friend C: ? ? That was your last message here…
Friend D: see u again
Friend E: Don’t forget your Captain America
tightssuit [his friends said he was a huge Captain America fan]Friend F: Thank you for spending the last year with us. I hope you find eternal happiness on the other side!
Polygon reached out to a Blizzard representative to confirm the Easter Egg and the representative was quoted as saying the following.
“We added that in remembrance of a brave member of our community.”
According to the official NetEase news report, the Guangzhou city government have already honored Hongyu as well with a “Courageous Citizen” award for is brave actions.
Also by Blizzard, World of Warcraft is honoring another fan death by immortalizing the character and making it into an NPC. The 28-year-old World of Warcraft gamer passed away from chronic leukemia and left behind a Night Elf Huntress, which will now become an NPC named Kelly Dark.
May real life heroes live forever in our hearts.
[Featured image via NetEase, Inc.]
