Overwatch Character Analysis: Zenyatta

The mechanics you engage with in a video game determine the voice of its narrative. With this in mind I wanted to talk about a Buddhist monk named Zenyatta. He is an Omic android who has achieved enlightenment. This character's abilities embody the themes that define him. You have four actions you can take as this character.

First you have Orb of Harmony, which is a healing over time buff that you can attach to allies you have line of sight to. Secondly there is an Orb of Discord which you can attach to enemies, and instead of healing forces them to take more damage from all sources.Your main weapon hurls out fast moving projectiles with open and closed hand strikes. You can also spend time to charge up several orbs to release in a much more rapid-fire burst. Finally your ultimate ability charges when you deal damage and heal allies. When activated you become invulnerable and heal everyone around you gradually. 

With your first two abilities you have to juggle keeping your teammates alive and marking targets for your team. You have to balance harm and healing in equal measure. With these two you balance between passively assisting allies and passively deconstructing the enemy. With your attacks, you have to choose between dolling out small pieces of damage, and large waves of damage. While attacking and charging your burst you can't use your Orb's of Discord and Harmony.This forces you to choose not only between constant or burst damage, it also forces you to choose between influencing the flow of combat, or wading into it yourself.

At any given moment you are committing to one of these courses of action, but how you learn to flow between all of them speaks to your skill with the character. Achieving a high level of play with this character forces you to adopt aspects of his character and his ideals.

These mechanics convey the struggle of achieving balance, and finding the correct course of action at any point in time. These mechanics help you empathize with the character as you play.


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