#freja ow

Her visual design doesn't fit her character with the nonsense fanservice genshin impact style outfit (her arteries and heart are shown… she is a bounty hunter from a frigid area? Where is her armor like Cass and Ana lol.), she should have had like… a circular blade copter jetpack to tie into her search-and-rescue past with a 'perch turkey hunter' twist, or at least have a batman style cape that acts like a hang glider to tie into her wind motif instead of a…. high-fantasy cape? Like it looks cool, but it isn't very 'overwatch' because there isn't enough of a tech focus. And if they wanted to go the magical route, at least give her a proper Freja mythos falcon feather veil (but techy, so like hard light or something)? I was surprised her necklace had nothing to do with her lore as it looks like a glowy rune AND both Freja and "GEFN" in Norse mythos have stories about Loki trying to steal her necklace. As of now, Freja is veering too close to Illari's silhouette for my liking (plus the 'woven' visual motif would have much better fit Solar threading for Illari imo), and her head features are not distinct enough to not look like a Widow or Ashe skin from afar. Her face is like a combo of Brigitte and Widow ig? They should have maybe given her an eyebrow scar or something to tie back to her history in the omnic crisis (would have been cool to have the blue symbol over a scared portion of her face). I am sure Freja will get a more so tactical skin that better fits her someday, but I think her base visual design was a miss. I DO like her hair and her distinct accent. I was worried she may sound too close to Brigitte (Freja's effort sounds sound similar) but the accent chosen works great and her tone fits the serious bounty hunter archetype. She looks better in more tactical gear as seen in the comic read out video. I did notice one thing, the belts on Lara Croft's design are the same areas that Freja has a boob window and thigh highs, so maybe it's a stylization? Freja does feel kind of like Overwatch's take on a "Lara Croft" archetype, and I honestly really like the idea of her being a bounty hunter instead of tomb raider.

Gameplay wise she's pretty… simple? And unless I was shown a guide on her skirting roof angles infinitely, I wouldn't have guessed that was her play style. She's like… mechanically Pharah movement but with a Tracer movement mindset, in that her movement is her "interaction" with the environment. I can't say it's really all that exciting beyond the cool cinematic moments of the slowed down scoped shot. She doesn't interact with her environment like widow (mine/grapple launch/team wall hacks) or Ashe (dynamite/coach gun boops you and others/BOB launch) or Hanzo (sonic arrow, wall climb, dragon) unless you get the Freja perk that slows enemies. She has a much simpler kit than Sojourn in that regard, but with more mobility skill ceiling. Even then, I think high mobility 'as the heroes interaction' focused characters work better when grounded horizontally (Tracer, Reaper, etc) OR you have to have some kind of interaction with the environment (Genji deflect and wall climb, even fliers like Pharah interact with the environment via boops, or Echo with sticky bombs and versatile ult). As of now, I honestly think double jump could have been Freja's dash key instead of shift. She doesn't really have any "wind" powers beyond her upward jump. Illari boops feels more "windy" than Freja's kit. I was expecting a wind gust cc ability or something? Her bolas ult also isn't really what I think of when I think of bolas (I would expect it to hit a target and slow a target over time, damaging those around the target into a final KER-KLUNK marble clackers burst damage to all in the AOE to match her scoped shot double hit, not be a tracer bomb with a hinder), but it's a decent ult. Her scoped fire is also what I would rework one shots into, a chunk of damage, then a burst damage or DOT. So idk… I feel they could have cooked a BIT more on her kit? bc her scoped shot is literally what I want Hanzo and Widow one shots to be as to meld better into teamplay.

Also whoever is saying "they want less visual clutter" is lying 100%. Freja launches a whole arrow in you that covers part of the screen. Her ult has a bunch of effects. Hazard also has visual clutter, so does Juno. Mei can definitely have a Frozone style perk, because both Venture and Ashe have to look down to use abilities. Saying visual clutter/not wanting players to look down is not a valid excuse.

Not to mention, I will not trust anyone that says they made the skin basic because they wanted to "preserve the silhouette" when Toxic Venture skin has NO jacket and NO goggles, yet the Avatar collab refused to change Venture's goggles and hair to better match Toph. Same with the OPM Kiriko skin… we had Kriko skins that changed the silhouette out already so. Just admit the budget wasn't there. It's not laziness by the devs, it's mismanagement forcing this, but don't tell obvious lies. People can see through it.

Story wise for Freja: idk why there is discourse, she's meant to be an anti-villain where she did good things for the wrong reasons (thrill of the hunt, to feel useful) and ended up just as corrupt as the "few bad people" she blamed for Overwatch's downfall. As an ex-overwatch agent she knows omnics are sapient yet she STILL chooses to be anti-omnic. The writing was done in such a way where the viewer can empathize with Freja and understand how she came to these incorrect conclusions (she was a child who was traumatized by the first omnic crisis and saw tons of death), without it feeling like Overwatch's narrative is actually endorsing Freja's viewpoint. Freja is a very biased narrator, painting herself as a good person that was abandoned by everyone just because a few bad people ruined it all ("just a few bad apples" is very copaganda-y), and I like that the writing respects the audience's ability to discern Freja is NOT a good person. I also like that Overwatch is exploring more of Overwatch's corruption. Like finally, an anti-villain with no excuses, she instead personally rationalizes away her responsibility with bs logic--THIS is why Overwatch fell. Not just the outright corrupt people, but the people that were complacent. Emre saw Overwatch's malpractice and left, but Freja stayed and kept her head down. (Most likely rationalizing the civilian deaths because her mom had to make hard decisions during the first omnic crisis. But this isn't the first crisis anymore, and Freja knows that.) Freja should not have stayed and kept quiet. She should have left, or whistle blown. But she didn't and she rationalizes this to make it out like she's the 'good guy' everyone turned on. As a viewer you SHOULD be uncomfortable and dislike Freja's outlook of things, that is the response the writing is intending. You are not meant to root for Freja, you should dislike her.