To all agents of Overwatch…
Welcome to the Pixel Panda Arcade. My next big game project, akin to the work I am doing for Abiotic Factor, is here. For the first time, I am diving into one of my all-time favorite games. But before we can do that, I am tackling this in a completely different way. So please give me a moment of your time. Kick back, relax, and let’s dive into one of the best hero shooters ever.
The world of Overwatch: The timeline of important events
Overwatch Declassified is one of the best lore resources that we have right now. This article will serve as a fundamental building block to everything else that I write for Overwatch. So it will be referenced often and might be updated depending on how the timeline changes as this new age of Overwatch progresses.
Some events do not appear in that book, so I had to place things where I think they’d fit best. I have the base timeline here, and new for 2026 is the Reign of Talon timeline.
The Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Revolution
The first major eventhere is the founding of the Omnica Corporation. Around this time, Dr. Vishwakarma produced a hard light using photon projectors. After that, Dr. Siebren de Kuiper created the first successful mag-lev prototype. This is the technology commonly seen on the cars that drive around the Oasis map. Interestingly enough, the lev rims would not appear on cars and roadways until shortly before the crisis.
This portion of the timeline includes the launch of the god programs, which were made to internationally manage ecological preservation, security, energy equity, and communications. The god program you’re likely most familiar with is Anubis.
Horizon Lunar Colony is launched by Lucheng Interstellar. For new players, we actually had a map for this location. I am surprised it hasn’t been reworked because it’s so important to the story.
Omnica Corporation commissions the first omniums.
Mina Liao creates the first sentient omnic, Aurora.
Omnica faces bankruptcy and legal battles, causing it to cease all operations.
The Omnic Crisis
The Omnic Crisis kicks off with Anubis attacking Lagos. Countries have prepared to fight quickly. Each country had different programs; for example, the United States had the Soldier Enhancement Program. Germany had the Crusader Initiative. Russia had the Svyatogor mechanized units. The Caribbean Coalition came to be and comprised various nations across the Caribbean.
The United Nations would later approve the Overwatch Charter presented by Gabrielle Adawe. Overwatch would be under the direct command of Gabriel Reyes. Remember this. After that, the first big thing that Overwatch does is decommission the Detroit omnium with the help of the Canadian Armed Forces. At this point, the war is not looking good.
The Awakening happens, which is when Aurora gives the Omnics sentience. Interestingly, the whole process is a mystery. The scientist chalks it up to science, but little is known about what actually happened.
Overwatch would later defeat and quarantine the Anubis god program in Cairo. This was only possible because of the Awakening. After that, Overwatch worked tirelessly to subdue Anubis-loyal Omnics around the world. Some Omics believed, and still believe, that Omics and Humans could not coexist.
This marks the end of the Omnic Crisis. Gabrielle Adawe brokered peace between humans and omnic kind.
The Golden Age of Overwatch
The United Nations extended Overwatch’s charter. Overwatch was turned into an international peacekeeping group that provided a lot of support with reconstruction efforts. Around this time, Gabrielle Adawe departed the agency, and Jack Morrison was installed as strike commander. This is where the strike commander skin comes from.
The Australian Liberation Front destroys the Australian omnium.
Gabrielle Adawe founds Numbani. Numbani was created with the goal of fostering peace between humans and omnics. Numbani also serves as an important lore location where the developers have routinely dropped story hints.
Sometime after that, the Overwatch watchpoint program is approved by the United Nations, with the headquarters being built in Zurich.
The omnic colossus resurfaces in the East China Sea, and Overwatch is sent in to provide early support to South Korea.
After that, the United Nations recognizes full civil rights for omnics, but countries around the world push back, and legal battles about these rights break out all over the globe.
Finally, the Ecopoint program is approved by the United Nations. Importantly, this is where we see the Mei cinematic take place. This cinematic takes place during the Golden Age of Overwatch and after that, when everything falls apart.
The Decline of Overwatch
Overwatch hit a major snag when Morrison approved funding, facilities, and staff for Blackwatch. Gabriel Reyes was put in charge of Blackwatch. This was not when Blackwatch was created, though; it was actually made years before running covert ops for the agency as needed. It only became declassified after the Venice Incident.
Sometime during this time, Emere leaves Overwatch because regulations were slipping. This is a hard one to place right now, but here is what we do know. Emere and Freja were once good friends. She was at Overwatch when he left. We learn about this during the comic, Storm Chaser.
Akande Ogundimu claims the Doofist gauntlet and rises to Talon leadership. He leads a campaign of attacks against Overwatch.
The Venice Incident draws exposure and public scrutiny of Blackwatch.
Overatch stops Null Sector in the King’s Row uprising. We actually got to see this during the old Archives Missions, which I sincerely hope they bring back.
Overwatch’s Swiss headquarters is destroyed.
The International Justice Commission passes the Petras Act, ending Overwatch.
Freja went out on her own for a while. Her jobs got more and more intense, and she became less and less of the Overwatch agent she once was. It’s important to note that Overwatch shutting down the way that it did ruined everyone’s reputation. We see this in the Storm Chaser comic.
After the Decline
This portion of the timeline is the part that will likely need the most editing.
Overwatch returns after the Null Sector attacks. The Petras Act is suspended completely because the International Justice Commission saw that Overwatch was needed.
At some point, Freja goes searching for Emere after getting a call from Maxamillion. Who is not a direct member of Talon, by the way. Here we see that Emere has The Eye on his chest, and is not acting like himself. We get this information from the comic, Search & Destroy.
She does bring him back to Vendetta, but right now, I am putting this here to account for mission time and travel time. They reappear during the Vengeance Comes comic.
We know that Wuyang was invited to Overwatch by Winston. Winston also invites his sister, Anran. Winston does this despite Overwatch still being illegal at the time. We know this because of the cinematic and because of the short story called The Invitation.
The Invitation is extremely important and introduces the following characters into the lore properly:
- Lucio
- Zarya: Who is introduced for the second time. She is called in during the Sombra short, but does not work with Overwatch at that point.
- Hana Song (D’va) is brought in because she answered the call and participated in the defense of the invasion.
These characters make an appearance in the story-based missions that were short-lived but will eventually appear in this timeline.
There are also a few other key takeaways from The Invitation, which are:
- Winston sent out the tokens, knowing that it was illegal to do so.
- There was still pressure to shut Overwatch down again.
So one thing that happens is the Atlas News Report, which is interesting because it marks the end of Null Sector. I still believe that this storyline was completely wasted. I have to put it here anyway, though. This comic further pushes the desire for Overwatch agents to help.
The Reign of Talon
This portion of the timeline picks up with things being properly documented. Like all of the portions, I am sure that I will be revisiting this portion of the timeline as 2026 continues. There is a lot that can be said about the setup of the new narrative structure. For now, I decided to break this portion up into three different parts…
Talon under Doomfist
So, during everything that was going on, Vendetta’s backstory was unfolding. Vendetta’s father held the Talon “empire” in the palm of his hands, but he made many enemies. He was killed by Blackwatch.
After her father is killed, Vendetta spends her time training in the arena. She gets contacts, she works hard, and she rises above Doomfist in a lot of ways. People don’t like to hear this, but the lore stressed that Doomfist spent too much time collecting contacts and not enough time using them.
She also “attacks” Max. The short story Vested Interests dives further into Vendetta’s interests and motivations. This is where Vendetta secures Max as an ally, and Max gets what he wants, which is a seat at the table.
After visiting Max, we got the short story called The Upper Hand. Vendetta seeks out The Vishkar Corporation. At first, she was scheduled to meet with Sanjay Korpal, but requested to speak with someone else. Enter, Vaira Singhania, the new vice president of operations for the Vishkar Corporation. We would later come to find out that this is actually a new hero! Also, this short story is awesome.
What follows after that is a fight that I think needed to happen, but I really don’t like how it happened. Vendetta takes on Doomfist and wins, claiming Talon for herself. As soon as she takes Talon, we see some major changes to the organization. We also don’t see Doomfist die here, which is interesting.
Vendetta takes over Talon
Vendetta is now in control of Talon. You can start by reading Vengeance Comes or by checking out my recap. We see that Talon is partnering with a couple of factions and taking the fight to Overwatch.
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