Jetpack Cat from Overwatch was once considered “too silly”
Blizzard will be releasing five new heroes in Overwatch soon. This quintet also includes Jetpack Cat, a support character who has existed for ten years and was once considered “too absurd for Overwatch.” However, much has changed since the initial idea for Jetpack Cat, which was ultimately rejected. A flying furball fighting alongside Reaper and Tracer now seems quite plausible.
Jetpack Cat will be the third playable tier in Overwatch, following the launch hero Winston and Wrecking Ball, who was added in 2018. Jetpack Cat, also known as Fika, introduces new gameplay mechanics. As Overwatch’s first hero with permanent flight ability, she can attach herself to her teammates and fly them across the map. Jetpack Cat can also grab enemies and knock them into awkward positions or even kill them by launching them off the map.
As a support character, Jetpack Cat’s main role is to heal her teammates. Like Juno, her primary attack, “Biotic Pawjectiles,” heals allies and damages enemies. Her healing ability, “Purr,” allows Jetpack Cat to unleash a healing pulse that can knock back enemies. Thanks to her ability, “Frenetic Flight,” which grants her rapid acceleration, she is also extremely mobile. All of Jetpack Cat’s abilities are based on the jet engine that powers her flight. It was invented by the heroine Brigitte, who took in the stray cat Fika and equipped her with this flying device.
Jetpack Cat first appeared in 2017
Back in 2017, the former Overwatch game director revealed Jeff Kaplan The existence of the jetpack cat as a hero concept for the game. At the time, however, Kaplan explained that the flying cat didn’t quite fit the Overwatch story. “With the jetpack cat, we felt like we were falling out of the Overwatch universe,” Kaplan explained at BlizzCon 2017, where he presented early concept art of the character that was ultimately scrapped.
Previous versions of Jetpack Cat portrayed the feline either as a heroic special agent or as a lazy, overweight cat using the jetpack like an armchair. The final version, releasing on February 10 alongside the first season of Overwatch, presents Fika as a curious house cat who plays with her jetpack like a toy. She is voiced by veteran actress Jennifer Hale, who also voices Ashe in Overwatch.
“Overwatch was about a year old, and we were still in the process of shaping the world,” said the art director. Dion Rogers“We still had to figure out what made sense for Overwatch. I imagine Jeff would have said, ‘Nah, a cat doesn’t work, does it?’ But then Wrecking Ball came along, and you can see that we used Winston’s story a bit as a foundation to explain Wrecking Ball’s character. As Overwatch developed, we learned that for things to work, they just need to be a bit more realistic. They need to be based on scientific findings or something from real life.”
Exactly how Jetpack Cat is supposed to stay grounded has not yet been revealed, but Rogers hinted that Fika might be “suspiciously” intelligent.
“We already have two animal characters in the game,” he explained. “Winston is basically a human; he was very intelligent as an ape. And Hammond is actually very intelligent. He only speaks through his robot. So we wanted a cat that wasn’t like that. It shouldn’t be just another animal that had become intelligent through a scientific experiment. […] Cat owners know that we feed them, clean their litter boxes, and let them sit on our laps. They’re more intelligent than they look. That’s exactly what we wanted to include. So how do we create a cat that seems suspiciously intelligent?”
“As you play the game or observe the things the cat does, you might learn a little more about her. We’ll witness her journey and understand why the cat exists in this world. Jeff Kaplan’s comment at the time was accurate: We were still exploring the universe and how it works. But we definitely want to create a universe where anything is possible.”
