While Overwatch itself doesn't have much in the way of story content, Blizzard has supplemented the game's lore through other mediums, whether it be comic books, animated shorts, or even short stories. But now it looks like the world of Overwatch is expanding into another space, as an Amazon listing has leaked the existence of an Overwatch novel, which will apparently be the first in a planned series.


The Overwatch book is entitled The Hero of Numbani and it will be written by Nick Drayden, based on an original story from Drayden and members of the game development team. The book will apparently be published by Scholastic for release on May 5, 2020, with the Kindle edition retailing for $5.99. Of course, the Overwatch book hasn't been officially announced yet, so it's quite possible that May 5, 2020 is just a placeholder date and $5.99 is a placeholder price. It will be the first Overwatch novel, joining other book projects like the Overwatch cookbook and art book.



As for what the Overwatch novel will be about, it will apparently follow Efi Oladele, the character who is responsible for creating the tank hero Orisa in Overwatch lore. The novel will be about Efi building Orisa to fight back against Doomfist. It's unclear exactly how many Overwatch characters will appear in the novel, but besides Efi, Orisa, and Doomfist, we do know that healer character Lucio will be a part of the story as well.





It sounds like the material being covered in the first Overwatch novel will stick pretty closely to the lore, and will more likely than not be considered canon. After all, Orisa's origin story video has already covered some of the story that will supposedly be covered in the novel. At any rate, it should go a long way in fleshing out the characters of Efi and Orisa, who haven't had a ton of lore-building compared to some of the other characters on the Overwatch roster.


Assuming this Overwatch book leak is real, it's honestly surprising that it has taken the game this long to get a proper novel. There have been multiple Overwatch short stories, sure, but this will be the first full-length novel. With the way Blizzard expands Overwatch's story using other mediums, it seems like a novel would have been a higher priority, but fans will likely be happy that one's finally coming at all, even if it's later than expected.


Overwatch is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with a Switch version launching on October 15.



Source: Amazon








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