Overwatch hero Orisa release date announced for PS4, Xbox One and PC

Tank-class hero arrives in Blizzard shooter on Tuesday, 21 March.

Blizzard has announced that Overwatch's 24th playable hero, Tank-class android Orisa, will be introduced to the hit online shooter next Tuesday, 21 March. The news was revealed at the end of a behind the scenes video about development of the character.

Orisa was announced in early March following months of build-up, before being introduced to the game's public test server (PTS) to allow the developers at Blizzard to tweak her weapons and abilities as to keep the larger game balanced.

In the preview video (embedded below), developers from the Overwatch team discuss the character being an "anchor tank" similar to existing hero Reinhardt, who is able act as the central figure in a team around which other players can operate.

In early testing, the team took existing Tank character Zarya and added Defence character Bastion's turret to create the basis for what would become Orisa.

Design-wise, Orisa is based on the design of Numbani –the fictional, futuristic African city where Orisa was built by Numbani citizen and child-prodigy Efi Oladele. Orisa is also based on the quadro-ped designs of other androids in the Overwatch universe.

The story of Overwatch exists primarily outside the game itself, in animated shorts, stories and comic books. Orisa's place in all this isn't known in great detail yet, but the behind the scenes video teases that her being the newest addition to the Overwatch team and still learning the ropes will be important.

At the end of the video, director Jeff Kaplan says: "I think she's a core character in the Overwatch line-up in terms of gameplay mechanics and functionality. She's going to serve a really unique role in Overwatch."