Blizzard has announced 51st Overwatch hero Sierra, a damage-role character, who'll be added to the game when Season 2 of Reign of Talon launches next Tuesday, 14th April. She's the first of five new heroes still to come to the competitive shooter this year.

Sierra's abilities haven't been discussed in detail but have been teased in a CGI introduction cinematic. Sierra has tanned skin, long pink-tinged hair and a southern American accent, and notably doesn't look like the other female heroes in the game - at least not yet. This is a problem Blizzard had to rectify with new hero Anran recently. Sierra also uses a flying arm bot as a kind of grappling hook, and packs a plasma-firing rifle.

Overwatch - Official Sierra Cinematic Hero Trailer

In her Summit Breach trailer, Sierra battles newish hero Emre on a bridge over a canyon, pelting him with bursts of rifle fire before shooting a kind of homing beacon that attracts a barrage of plasma missiles. We don't see her ultimate ability in the trailer or anything else she can do, but I expect Blizzard will fill in the details soon.

As mentioned, Sierra is the first of five more heroes being added to Overwatch this year - one in each of the game's new Reign of Talon seasons. Reign of Talon launched in February with an expansion-sized update which brought five additional heroes to the game.

But there won't only be new heroes added to Overwatch this year. Notably, Season 2 - which we now know releases 14th April - includes a proper Switch 2 version of Overwatch. Blizzard also intends to tinker with maps and game modes, and overhaul some existing heroes.

Overwatch - formerly Overwatch 2 - has been revitalised courtesy of this new, yearly expansion plan that Blizzard has embarked on. Players are returning in large numbers and this has created an exciting relaunch kind of moment, bolstered by years of updates and necessary changes Blizzard has already made to the game. As I wrote recently, I haven't been this excited about Overwatch in 10 years.