Overwatch Recall

On this page of Overwatch Recall, you can find key points to Overwatch's lore and story if you wish to know more about the setting. This page will be maintained over time as more details are revealed, and will be compiled as neatly as possible. If anyone has corrections, edits, suggestions, and additives to this page, please do not hesitate to go to this thread and make a post for consideration and discussion.

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There was a sense of peace for a time, and there were studies and advancements in technologies that found themselves into peoples' every day lives in the world. The Omnica Corporation developed and created omniums, sentient-like synthetic beings that coexisted alongside people. For a while, it seemed like people and the omniums could reside in peace and better prosper hand-in-hand.

Ominca was later found guilty of fraud through evidence that was brought to light, and, as a result, their omniums were shut down along with the company itself. With the omniums shut down and dismantled, it came a surprise when they rebooted back to life on their own and immediately launched a militaristic advance on the human race. Functioning on their own, the omniums built more militarised versions of themselves and churned them out.

The new omnics also managed to hijack other types of technology useful to their desires, including a construct called the Titan Walker. The Titan Walker was turned into a weapon of war. Understandably, the world was floored by the appearance of this new threat as the omnics waged a war to overthrow the human race.


Battlefields were made of cities and towns as the omniums marched forth and aimed to reduce humanity to ash. On the font lines were some of the more combat oriented Bastion units and they formed a bulk of the omnic forces. Some of the more gruesome battles took places in areas such as Mexico, India, Australia, Russia, Rio de Janeiro, and Paris.

Of course, people sent their own forces to combat the omnic uprising, but many of their efforts fell short. Even though many countries thought that they could go toe to toe with the omincs, the omnics were always one step ahead and managed to tear down forces without much opposition. No matter how powerful the military and forces presumably were. The once highly celebrated robots due to their adaptability and versatility were now the world's worst tactical nightmare. The only exception to the losses was Russia, who seemed to be able to hold their own and secure their own territories.

The worst thing was that the omincs had no demands for those they waged war against. To the people that they attacked, there was no real ideological reason to their blood lust -- they just seemed to be attacking for the sake of it.


The United Nations had to make a decision when the people of the world were under the threat of the new omniums and forces were losing territories. When this happened, countries were quickly losing, and territories were being contested as people were forced to find other places to call safe. During this, it was observed that there were those strategic and strong enough to thrive in these conditions. With these observations, the UN gathered their best soldiers, best technologies, and drafted some of the world's top profile faces with talents useful to this cause.

The United Nations called this unit 'Overwatch'; it consisted of scientists, soldiers, adventurers, and oddities and was meant to engage in asymmetrical warfare against the omnics. In addition, Overwatch was given to the command of Gabriel Reyes, a member of one of the United States' super soldiers programs. Though Reyes had overall command, the structure of Overwatch was moulded into a truly cohesive fighting force by Jack Morrison. Other founding members of Overwatch also included Ana Amari, Liao, Reinhardt Wilhelm, and Torbjörn Lindholm.


With the proper command and strategies to their formations, Overwatch was able to find their strength against the omnics and were able to successfully target the omnic command and control protocols. With many sacrifices and casualties to their numbers, Overwatch was able to lay waste to it all, immobilising and the omnic forces and shutting them down.

This victory meant that Overwatch saved the world, and that victory earned adoration worldwide.

However, not all was entirely well within the ranks. Jack Morrison was decorated and given the position of Overwatch's first official commander. This meant that Gabriel Reyes, despite having command of the Overwatch forces, was passed over with little to no recognition for his efforts.


As years went by, Overwatch turned into an international peacekeeping force, and both new resources and funding were poured into the unit. With the new resources, Overwatch soon became a huge, global influence. Years turned into decades, and further funding and resources turned into helping maintaining peace, inspiration to exploration, discovery, innovation, and a range of research that went into space exploration and medical research, and climatology to better benefit the population as a whole. Eco watch points were erected by Overwatch due to their spread out focus on keeping the world a safer place and keeping Earth's changing climate in mind.

Other factors were also considered; rogue omnics, terrorism, warmongering dictators, and other forces looking for conflict could not possibly hope to contend against a formidable and dedicated organisation. With all the things that Overwatch was founded upon, global stability turned into its primary function and goal... and the world was happy to have them.

Overwatch grew and became a global institution -- this meant that new agents were drafted, screened, and recruited into their forces. Those that grew up during that period were referred to as the 'Overwatch Generation,' and they had their legion of heroes of whom they looked up to. For the children that grew up with Overwatch looking after the masses, the name and icon of Overwatch became a symbol of hope, and these children were taught that they represented humanity's finest.

Maintaining global communications and possessing the most advanced armouries on the planet, Overwatch carried out operations against terrorist groups such as Talon and the Shimada Clan. The Shimada Clan, however, was successfully dismantled... though the militaristic approach to maintaining peace generated internal tension among its people.



Twenty years went by after Overwatch's initial foundation, and, ultimately, the influence Overwatch had started to wane. People started suspecting Overwatch of corruption and sedition, and a number of allegations and accusations were pointed at the group, including negligence. These stresses started to wear on the group; these started to cause high-profile mission failures, actual corruption and mismanagement, weapons proliferation, human rights abuses, and much more.

Critics were never short of words when it came to the activity of Overwatch and its operatives -- even back in its glory days. While there had been many calls for the restriction of Overwatch's missions and hold over watching over the masses, these voices became stronger than ever, declaring that Overwatch needed more and careful oversight. Rumours spread of black-ops missions that were taking on tasks such as assassinations and kidnappings... and these rumours were initially disregarded as paranoid fantasies by the public that had come to trust Overwatch.


Time became Overwatch's enemy as the voices of criticism, rumour, and speculation became louder and harder to turn a blind eye to. Missions were becoming controversial, and public concerns and outrage were being ignored by those in the agency. This went on until it became much too much for the unit as protests broke out, declaring Overwatch being the source of the world's turmoil and tension. This led some of Overwatch's most celebrated and adored names and faces being forced to retire in disgrace.

Years later, Olypia Shaw, an acclaimed journalist for Atlas News, reflected that if that had been the end of Overwatch, many might have just accepted the disbandment as the 'unavoidable signs of an aging, bloated, bureaucracy, suffering under monolithic leadership that desperately needed a change in direction'. The truth of the matter, however, turned out to be a lot darker.

As Overwatch seemed to be coming to an end, a top secret division called 'Blackwatch' was revealed. This made the rumours of assassination, coercion, kidnapping, torture, and other heinous acts no better when it concerned media and the general public. People were quick to call on the UN to shut down the "aggressive and repeated violations of mean countries' sovereignty".

A special United Nations committee launched a lengthy and highly secretive investigation into the claims that were being put forth. As the investigations proceeded and public trust grew, the Swiss headquarters for Overwatch was destroyed in an apparent accident. Among casualties of the event were Jack Morrison and Gabriel Reyes.

The UN remained steadfast on the notion that there had been no foul play behind the events that transpired, but different and anonymous reports indicated that a rebellion tore the group apart from the inside. On one side, there was Jack Morrison; Jack was determined to keep what was left of Overwatch together. On the opposite side, there was Gabriel Reyes; Gabriel's agenda was pretty much unknown, even to this day. That being the case, a battle raged between these two deep within Overwatch's base, and this fighting soon triggered an explosion that destroyed the facility, supposedly killing the two of them and numerous others within.

Angela Ziegler, head of Overwatch's medical research, commented in a UN hearing that the outcome was inevitable; Reyes and Morrison had drifted further and further apart, as Reyes had remained bitter that Morrison had been given the position of field commander instead of him.



The United Nations committee, along with the loss of its headquarters and key members, saw the deaths of Jack Morrison and Gabriel Reyes as the beginning of the end of Overwatch. Full transgressions of Overwatch's shadow operations soon became known, and the most adamant defenders inside could no longer refute the evidence provided and bowed out.

With everything out on the table and for all to see, the United Nations could do nothing but call for the shut down of Overwatch. Those left gave into the pressure, and the unit was eventually disbanded. Not long after the disbanding, an act was passed that made any and all Overwatch activities illegal; this act was called 'The Petras Act'. Any well known agents were now targets of derision and suspicion in the media.

There were few people that doubted that the shutting down of Overwatch was the right call. The world was at a time of great peace... and the biggest threat to all at the current time was Overwatch itself. The one force that had saved them before was now snubbed and disgraced. As far as many people were concerned, the time of Overwatch was over.


Five years since the call to shut down Overwatch, an air of mystery shrouds the fall of the unit... at least to the general population of the world. Many people suspected that someone took it over and their lack of leadership led the unit into the ground. Even with all the rumours and speculation, there was no doubt that the world started to change and was becoming a darker place to live in.

Tensions between humans and omnics started to rise once more as without the Watch's protection, people became suspicious of them once more. Local political leaders started to accuse certain corporations of using covert operatives to 'persuade' government officials into accepting exploitative deals. There wee also accusations of political parties hiring mercenaries for more permanent solutions to their woes.

Though shadow organisations operated with impunity and often left a trail of dead civilians behind them, Overwatch continued to be memorialised. Some of the former members even attempted to get the group back together like back in the old days.

Curiously, Overwatch bases were raided by an individual that was only known as Soldier: 76. Reports were made that he recovered technology as well as only incapacitated -- never killed -- agents that were dispatched to look over the installations. Journalist, Olympia Shaw, returned to media. With anonymous contacts within the UN and classified reports, Olympia started to piece together what she knew of Jack Morrison and Gabriel Reyes, soon coming to the conclusion that was ultimately correct; Soldier: 76 was indeed Jack Morrison.



Talon operatives followed through with a raid on the abandoned Watchpoint: Gibraltar. Their intentions was to gain any knowledge of the previous agents of the Overwatch and gaining their location details. An agent known as Reaper did what he could to hack into the database as other operatives were made to see what threats awaited them as they found that the point was, in fact, not completely abandoned.

These Talon operatives were foiled by Winston, an agent of Overwatch who had no other place to really call home other than the Overwatch base. Successful with his foil, Winston made sure that the Athena interface was still alright as well as made sure that the virus made to compromise everyone's details was quarantined. Once he was satisfied, Winston initiated the Overwatch recall.

Agent Lena Oxton, also known as Tracer, immediately responded to the call. With the two of them on the move, they did their best to foil further plans of Talon. However, these vigilante acts (with Soldier: 76's actions included), alerted the United Nations, and they were made to make a statement. Unhappy, their statement was this: "The United Nations has not authorized any Overwatch operations. The organization’s charter remains revoked."

Questions attempting to pry more information about Overwatch were met with silence or hostility. Governments across the world that hosted Overwatch bases, from Russia to the United Kingdom, gave similar condemnations to their people. In a poll run by Atlas News, a good number of people were concerned whether or not Overwatch's members have gone rogue. However, at least 75% of the respondents remained uncertain as to what this slow ascent to return would mean for the world.