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The 5 Best Video Game Characters Of 2016 So Far

We’ve come a long way since the early days of gaming, when player characters were sometimes represented on screen by a single, pixelated dot. Video games are becoming more and more complex, giving way to interesting, well developed characters with personalities and flaws. We’ve come to a point in time in which narratives can be as big and sweeping or as tight and personal as any book or TV show, and our characters reflect that.

The Cast – Overwatch

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The cast – yes, the cast – of Overwatch lands a spot on our list. There are twenty-one characters featured in Blizzard’s newest IP, and each one of them has as much personality as your average Pixar film. Is that cheating? Yes. Do we care? No.

Blizzard’s colorful art style and cartoonish character design has combined to create the most charming collection of heroes we’ve seen in a shooter. Super intelligent apes, gun slinging cowboys, armor clad knights; the game has just about every archetype you could expect to find in a Saturday morning cartoon. It’s not only an aesthetic; their personality and design dictates their playstyle, making each one of them feel as unique as they look. Try to play the game for even an hour without finding something to love in several of them. We dare you.

What’s more, Blizzard has created supplemental videos that fill in the backstory of Overwatch and let us glimpse into the lives of Tracer, Widowmaker, Soldier 76 and more, all while maintaining the cinematic quality the developers are known for in their cutscenes.

There is so much to love in the tiniest bits of dialogue shared between any two characters before a match that you’ll find yourself pausing to hear them all. Expect to see countless cosplayers donning their very best Overwatch themed outfits this year, and for many years to come. With such a fun group of characters, it will be hard to not join them.