Sigma, the gravity-defying super-scientist, is Overwatch's 31st hero, joining the roster just a little after the game's third birthday. As the list of playable characters expands, the harder it is to make something more unique and exciting than the last.

Sombra gave us the ability to hack enemies and disable their abilities, leading to more than a few peripheral-smashing moments of rage. Baptiste can make his teammates immortal and turn the tides of the fight with just one beacon. And Sigma⁠—he can manipulate the whole concept of gravity with his fingertips.

But, how did this astrophysicist from the Netherlands find his way into the ranks of Talon whilelearning the ways of the universe, and how will he revolutionise the way we play Overwatch? We sat down with Overwatch’s lead narrative designer Michael Chu, lead hero designer Geoff Goodman, and associate gameplay designer Joshua Noh to find out.

The Tao of Sigma

When designing a hero in Overwatch, inspiration usually sparks from one of three departments ⁠—art, narrative, or gameplay. Going from concept to reality is never the same, and even Sigma ended up far from the original idea that floated around in the office.

“Sigma was a hero where the gameplay and abilities drove the direction of the story. It became very obvious that the core of his abilities, like using gravity, were going to be central to him.” Michael Chu explained. “Each character is very different, but the common thing between them all is that when we have one of those groups lead, the other groups quickly fill in and it becomes a big collaboration snowball to figure out who the hero was going to be.”

This gave the narrative team some liberties in exploring who Sigma really was. Shaping his story around an arduous journey to discover the key to the universe and his fall from grace into Talon’s arms was something unique for the design team.

“We wanted to take that unique gameplay idea and think about, from a hero standpoint, and a personality, backstory, and other standpoints, about what unique hero we could have put into the Overwatch universe," said Chu. "So the character of Sigma came out of that idea that he was a scientist who had unlocked this pretty crazy power level.”

Talon was also on the watch list for the Overwatch designers for a little while too.

“We had the idea that we wanted to make a character in Talon, but the original skillset of Sigma didn’t quite fit into the theme of the original character we wanted to make, which was Mauga from the Baptiste short story,” Chu said. “Talon is definitely something we want to explore more, and that is one of the common threads of the heroes we were developing before settling on Sigma.”

Introducing the Hybrid Tank

The aesthetics and story of a hero are one thing, but the gameplay aspect is arguably the most critical. Everyone who touches Overwatch will come across Sigma at one point or another, so making sure he is easy to distinguish in-game from other heroes is key.

One look at his kit might make players think of a low-mobility D.Va, or a beefier version of Zarya, and as the game grows, the harder it becomes to make a completely unique experience for every new hero. However, Goodman believes the team found the perfect niche for Sigma.

“Designing heroes now is a lot different compared to when we were starting Overwatch, said Geoff Goodman. "We are always concerned with heroes being too similar to another, but we don’t want to over-complicate the design.”

That’s led to Sigma’s kit being a new take on some of the game’s most iconic abilities, as well as some completely new concepts the team has always dreamed of making a reality.

“The main thing we were trying to develop with Sigma was a barrier tank and trying to push him more towards being an anchor for his team," said Noh. "Things like the Barrier shield came in first, while his Kinetic Grasp came in later when we were filling out his kit.”

“With Zarya in the game too, we didn’t want to go towards an angle where he pulled people in with gravity," added Goodman. "So instead, we ended up thinking of this way of utilising gravity in a different way, which is in his ultimate, and it’s pretty cool to create stuff like that."

Here lies some sort of identity crisis for Sigma, however. The idea of a barrier tank is one more suited for the main tank role in-game, like Orisa or Reinhardt. However, his utility in displacement and ability-blocking interacts more like a traditional off-tank, like Zarya or D.Va. Much like his backstory though, throwing the rules out the window is needed for the abilities Sigma possesses.

“Sigma is pretty flexible depending on which other tank you are running with, "said Noh. "You can get a really aggressive style of play with Wrecking Ball and Sigma, but if your team needs to double down on barriers you can partner him with Orisa.”

“His DPS is not super high compared to other off-tanks,” said Goodman, “but his burst damage is really high, so he has power than can be utilised in ways other tanks can’t.”

No more GOATS, See

Sigma’s introduction into Overwatch comes at a time where the game has just been finding its feet in role lock , too. With GOATS dominating the meta for so long, and so much done to try and nerf its power, Sigma was never going to be the answer. In fact, Sigma might have been the next component of a new GOATS composition with his impressive damage mitigation.

“When we were working on Sigma, we knew we were working on a character who was coming out in a post-role lock Overwatch, which was nice,”Goodman explained."The concern around Sigma was as we add more barrier tanks, the tools that Orisa, Winston, Sigma, and other heroes provide would stack too much and become too powerful. Knowing that teams would be locked into two tanks only allowed us to be a bit more freedom in the power we gave Sigma.”

Early tests of Sigma are looking positive for the design team too. He’s slotting in with other characters in the game, he has his power in certain situations, and he has his place in the meta. However, he has quite the steep learning curve, and it’ll take players some time to figure out all of his mechanics.

“Some players on the PTR have been theorising using Sigma as a counter to bunker compositions, lifting up the entire team with his ultimate and putting them outside of Baptiste beacon range,” said Goodman. “But the biggest thing about Sigma and his learning curve is that his normal weapon fire can ricochet off of walls and bounce around. It’s not the first thing that comes into your mind when it comes around to playing Sigma, but it’s got a lot of benefits than just trying to hit direct fire. It has a set timer before it explodes, so if you bounce it off an object, it’ll detonate closer to you.”

Sigma and his Dice of Doom about to roll natural 20s on your ass © Blizzard

Sigma also excels when there’s a bit of space in front of him to deploy his barrier and keep redeploying it when necessary, as well as giving his boulder a chance to knock enemies down, and primary fire to explode in opponent’s faces.

“Sigma has this sweet spot at about 20 metres where his attacks automatically detonate in mid-air, and he can manage his shield effectively,” said Noh. “He ends up being weaker against close-range heroes like Reaper and Doomfist, so you have to keep an eye on those guys while playing Sigma.”

As Overwatch looks to future-proof itself, Sigma is one of those heroes that lays the groundwork for adding some new mechanics in the game. His unique identity as a hybrid-tank gives Sigma the flexibility to be played in almost every situation. With role lock coming into effect, Sigma will have an interesting place in the Overwatch meta as both a protector and disrupter.