There’s a sense of encapsulation to this narrative. Feeling betrayed by Katya, uncertain of her own feelings about omnics since she chose to save Lynx instead of pursuing Sombra, Zarya chooses to put the whole episode behind her and go back to Russia to defend it once more. Whether that’s true or not, Zarya does ultimately succeed in tracking down Sombra, but isn’t able to capture her. Zarya herself says a spy would be better suited to the task, but Katya insists that she needs someone she can trust. We don’t have a clear sense of why Katya picks Zarya for the job of hunting down Sombra in order to bring her in. This made her a hero for putting the needs of Mother Russia before her own ambitions. While Zarya was too young to fight in the Crisis proper, she later became a celebrity by giving up her weightlifting championship aspirations to serve in the Russian defense forces. Zarya’s story up to this point is an encapsulation of Russia’s overall story throughout the Crisis - the machines came to fight, Russia rose to the challenge and defeated them. Enter Zarya, the most powerful woman in the world With Katya’s position and fame, she was a ripe target for Sombra, so she decides to bring in another hero to help her with her new friend problem. Which is why it’s such a big deal when Sombra blackmails her by threatening to reveal that components of Volskaya’s new mech designs were provided by omnics. A Russian weapons manufacturer providing Russian weapons to the Russian people to defeat the great enemy of Russia in this conflict - it’s the perfect narrative if one reflects on how modern Russia (and her predecessor the USSR) lionizes her champions. Katya Volskaya, as the company’s leader, was lauded as a hero. The main takeaway, though, is that Russia survived the Omnic Crisis, and Volskaya, as a company, was a big part of that. For Zarya, this idea of all omnics as the enemy is reflected in how she interacts with omnics (read: very badly), and especially with her unexpected partner Lynx Seventeen. The omnics are all depicted as Bastion units, painting them as a uniform, inhuman opposing force, up against a relatively diverse cast of stoic Russians. This is pitch-perfect if one has any understanding of modern Russian depictions of history - the people bled for their victory, but it was the people who won that victory.

Now, the Volskaya map and the Infiltration cinematic paint Russia’s depiction of their win over the omnics a particular way. Zarya’s backstory indicates that it was Russian forces who ultimately shut down the Siberian omnium (with no mention of Overwatch being involved), but that the region was devastated as a result. Like many other nations, Russia had her own preferred way of combating the omnics, and they chose giant piloted mechs (“Svyatogors,” named for a giant from Russian folklore) as their option. In the lead-up to the release of the Volskaya Industries map, we learned a sizable amount about the company - principally, that it was one of the pillars of Russia’s defense against the omnics during the Crisis. But before we talk about Volskaya, we have to talk about Russia. Let’s talk about Aleksandra Zaryanova, AKA Zarya, her “friend” Katya Volskaya, and Russian weapons manufacturer Volskaya Industries, and how they might fit into the story of Overwatch 2.īefore we talk about Zarya, let’s talk about Katya Volskaya. Today, we’re looking at another unaligned force, because she is certain to be important in whatever’s coming next.

We’ve talked about the various factions contending with one another in Overwatch 2, and then focused on Symmetra, one of the unaligned heroes in the cast.

Zarya overwatch