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Blizzard airs long-awaited new Overwatch animated short for... Mei

Snowwwwballll!

The wait for a lavish new Overwatch animated short has ended - a new one has aired. For Mei.

Titled Rise and Shine, the animation brings to life Mei's origin story. Nine years ago she was a happy-go-lucky scientist at Ecopoint: Antarctica, recording a last video log before being put into cryosleep. But when she wakes up her smile begins to fade.

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The animation leans lovingly on the relationship between Mei and her hovering robot companion, Snowball, telling an engrossing story without combat. It's a pleasure to watch - and I expect there are some clues about future Overwatch content hidden in there somewhere.

Watch on YouTube

Blizzard has a reputation for gorgeous animated shorts. Another worth watching is the new Hearthstone video, which resembles a musical Disney fairytale and kickstarts a whole new series of animated shorts for the card game.