A Fan of Overwatch design custom Orisa Xbox controller

A Fan of Overwatch design custom Orisa Xbox controller.

An Overwatch fan hand-draws Orisa's design on an Xbox One controller using colored Sharpies. Using colored Sharpies, an Overwatch fan draws Orisa's design on an Xbox One controller.

Few first-person shooters have as many distinctive character designs as Blizzard's Overwatch. The game has a broad range of foreign heroes for players to choose from, all hailing from various areas of the world and distinguished by Blizzard's trademark visual style. Overwatch has inspired a plethora of diverse artworks and cosplays by fans, expressing themselves via multiple mediums, and a recent Reddit post has shown a unique way of doing so, with a custom controller design based on Overwatch's Orisa.

Orisa is an Overwatch tank hero who rose to prominence during the game's infamous GOATS meta, in which professional teams used a team composition with three tanks and three healers to steamroll opponents with their amazing resilience. Orisa's huge health pool and easily sustained shield made the hero a major element of the strategy, resulting in conflicting feelings towards the Overwatch character at times, while she certainly still has ardent admirers in the community.

Pamelody, a Reddit user, made a fantastic controller design using colored Sharpies and a spray-on fixative to avoid dust and other factors from ruining the artwork. Deep oranges and yellows are used to capture Orisa's happy smile, which is etched on the controller's face and broken up by the buttons and control sticks. Pamelody should put a resin or plastic spray on the controller to prevent the colors from seeping onto their hands if they get into a particularly sweaty Overwatch game, according to several users.

This piece's creative flare is a tribute to the Overwatch community's skill, with the controller taking on a completely new aspect and expertly portraying Orisa's robotic visage. According to pamelody, the Sharpie controller has kept its smooth feel, and with a fixative, the colors are unlikely to run too much, even during the most fierce games. This eliminates the major fear about the design creating gameplay difficulties, and with such a beautiful image of Numbani's guardian on it, the controller can only improve Pamelody's performance.

Despite the fact that the controller is not an official piece of Blizzard merchandise, many fans would love to get their hands on one, and with Activision Blizzard recently embroiled in controversy over its treatment of female employees, it's nice to see that its games can still inspire something positive. If Overwatch 2 is released without more condemnation of Blizzard, perhaps unique controller designs will be included in the game's marketing.

Overwatch is currently available on PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One.

H/S: Reddit (via GR)