Skip to main content
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+
US EditionUS CA EditionCanada UK EditionUK AU EditionAustralia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Games
    • Game Insights
      • Games News
      • Games Features
      • Games Reviews
      • Games Guides
      • Big in 2026
      • The Big Preview
      • On The Radar
      • Indie Spotlight
      • Future Games Show
      • Golden Joystick Awards
    • Genres
      • Action Games
      • RPGs
      • Action RPGs
      • Adventure Games
      • Third Person Shooters
      • FPS Games
    • Platforms
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X
      • PC
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Nintendo Switch 2
      • Tabletop Gaming
    • Franchises
      • Grand Theft Auto
      • Pokemon
      • Assassin's Creed
      • Monster Hunter
      • Fortnite
      • Cyberpunk
      • Red Dead
      • The Elder Scrolls
      • The Sims
  • Entertainment
    • TV Shows
      • TV News
      • TV Reviews
      • Anime Shows
      • Sci-Fi Shows
      • Superhero Shows
      • Animated Shows
      • Marvel TV Shows
      • Star Wars TV Shows
      • DC TV Shows
    • Movies
      • Movie News
      • Movie Reviews
      • Big Screen Spotlight
      • Superhero Movies
      • Action Movies
      • Anime Movies
      • Sci-Fi Movies
      • Horror Movies
      • Marvel Movies
      • DC Movies
    • Streaming
      • Apple TV Plus
      • Disney Plus
      • Netflix
      • HBO
      • Amazon Prime Video
      • Hulu
    • Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • DC Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Lego
    • Dungeons and Dragons
    • Merch
  • Hardware
    • Insights
      • Hardware News
      • Hardware Reviews
      • Hardware Features
    • Computing
      • Desktop PCs
      • Laptops
      • Handhelds
    • Peripherals
      • Headsets & Headphones
      • TVs & Monitors
      • Gaming Mice
      • Gaming Keyboards
      • Gaming Chairs
      • Speakers & Audio
    • Accessories & Tech
      • Gaming Controllers
      • Tech
      • SSDs & Hard Drives
      • VR
      • Accessories
      • Retro
  • Deals
    • Game Deals
    • Tech Deals
    • TV Deals
    • Buying Guides
  • Video
  • Newsletters
    • Quizzes
    • About Us
    • How to pitch to us
    • How we score
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Total Film
  • home
  • Games
    • View Games
      • Games News
      • Games Features
      • Games Reviews
      • Games Guides
      • Big in 2026
      • The Big Preview
      • On The Radar
      • Indie Spotlight
      • Future Games Show
      • Golden Joystick Awards
      • Action Games
      • RPGs
      • Action RPGs
      • Adventure Games
      • Third Person Shooters
      • FPS Games
    • Platforms
      • View Platforms
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X
      • PC
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Nintendo Switch 2
      • Tabletop Gaming
      • Grand Theft Auto
      • Pokemon
      • Assassin's Creed
      • Monster Hunter
      • Fortnite
      • Cyberpunk
      • Red Dead
      • The Elder Scrolls
      • The Sims
  • Entertainment
    • View Entertainment
    • TV Shows
      • View TV Shows
      • TV News
      • TV Reviews
      • Anime Shows
      • Sci-Fi Shows
      • Superhero Shows
      • Animated Shows
      • Marvel TV Shows
      • Star Wars TV Shows
      • DC TV Shows
    • Movies
      • View Movies
      • Movie News
      • Movie Reviews
      • Big Screen Spotlight
      • Superhero Movies
      • Action Movies
      • Anime Movies
      • Sci-Fi Movies
      • Horror Movies
      • Marvel Movies
      • DC Movies
    • Streaming
      • View Streaming
      • Apple TV Plus
      • Disney Plus
      • Netflix
      • HBO
      • Amazon Prime Video
      • Hulu
    • Comics
      • View Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • DC Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Lego
    • Dungeons and Dragons
    • Merch
  • Hardware
    • View Hardware
      • Hardware News
      • Hardware Reviews
      • Hardware Features
      • Desktop PCs
      • Laptops
      • Handhelds
    • Peripherals
      • View Peripherals
      • Headsets & Headphones
      • TVs & Monitors
      • Gaming Mice
      • Gaming Keyboards
      • Gaming Chairs
      • Speakers & Audio
      • Gaming Controllers
      • Tech
      • SSDs & Hard Drives
      • VR
      • Accessories
      • Retro
  • Deals
    • View Deals
    • Game Deals
    • Tech Deals
    • TV Deals
    • Buying Guides
  • Video
  • Newsletters
    • Quizzes
    • About Us
    • How to pitch to us
    • How we score
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Total Film
Trending
  • Pokemon Winds and Waves
  • New Games for 2026
  • GamesRadar+ Replay
  • Mario Day deals
Don't miss these
Atsu looks out across the surroundings of Mount Yotei in Ghost of Yotei
Open World Games Ghost of Yotei almost had Breath of the Wild's rock climbing, but found it's not "a core aspect of being a ronin"
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Gustave winces
RPGs "The first track spoils the whole game": Clair Obscur Expedition 33 dev confirms it was filling your ears with spoilers
Marathon destroyer runner shell using shield to block explosive
FPS Games Overwatch lead says using Steam player counts to dunk on Marathon is "big unemployed, maidenless behavior"
Peak
Co-op Games Peak devs originally borrowed from Zelda Breath of the Wild's climbing, but "everything changed" 1 week into development
Ghost of Yotei screenshot of Atsu with her arms raised as she wields a katana
Open World Games I wish I'd learned to read Ghost of Yotei's open world before I got lost in it
Overwatch
FPS Games Jeff Kaplan calls Overwatch 2 "one of my biggest mistakes," names "2 points of failure" for the troubled sequel
Overwatch x Project YoRHa
FPS Games Overwatch's Nier collab is here, but with no voice lines and a price higher than the action RPG, players aren't happy
Screenshot of Overwatch hero Domina, a woman in a sleek business suit and black hair, holding a futuristic gun while smirking into the camera.
FPS Games Overwatch's 69.1% ban rate for Jetpack Cat will surprise "absolutely no one," but Domina haters need to get good
Overwatch Jetpack Cat smiling smugly
FPS Games "What if we could just drop 30 new heroes into Overwatch?": Marvel Rivals "definitely had an impact" on Blizzard
Overwatch's Brigitte offers you a hand up.
FPS Games Overwatch director celebrates no longer being "the lowest-rated game on Steam" but he's not sure how to reach positive
An orc from World of Warcraft roars at the screen
MMO Games Blizzard's canceled WoW follow-up was a "1 server, 1 world" MMO with GTA and Animal Crossing influences, ex dev says
FPS Games Overwatch co-creator says he left Blizzard after an exec threatened to lay off 1000 devs based on the game's performance
Key art for Highguard showing Kai riding a bear, Atticus with the Shieldbreaker, and Scarlet, crouched, aiming down sights
FPS Games Ex Highguard developers blame "hubris" for the game's failure in new report
FPS Games Overwatch is only in "the beginning of a comeback," lead says, as Blizzard plans to keep "making the best game" for fans
An orc from World of Warcraft roars at the screen
World of Warcraft "Typical hubris" led to one of WoW's "s**ttiest" quests, admits creator Jeff Kaplan
  1. Games
  2. Action
  3. Overwatch

Overwatch is hiding either a big mistake or a hilarious Easter egg

News
By Connor Sheridan published 6 June 2016

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

  • Facebook
  • X
  • Pinterest
  • Flipboard
  • Email
Share this article
Join the conversation
Follow us
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Get the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more


By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

You are now subscribed

Your newsletter sign-up was successful


Want to add more newsletters?

GamesRadar+

Every Friday

GamesRadar+

Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.

GTA 6 O'clock

Every Thursday

GTA 6 O'clock

Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.

Knowledge

Every Friday

Knowledge

From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.

The Setup

Every Thursday

The Setup

Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.

Switch 2 Spotlight

Every Wednesday

Switch 2 Spotlight

Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.

The Watchlist

Every Saturday

The Watchlist

Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.

SFX

Once a month

SFX

Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!


An account already exists for this email address, please log in.
Subscribe to our newsletter

You know that scroll that hangs on the wall at the final capture point in Overwatch's Hanamura map? The one that Hanzo kneels before while honoring his not-so-dead-it-turns-out brother in the Dragons animated short? It has four kanji characters on it, and if you can't read them, you probably just assumed their calligraphic lines conveyed some piece of ancient wisdom. That's not quite the case, apparently.

According to Kotaku, the scroll bears a maxim that translates directly to "dragon head, snake tail" (ryuutoudabi), which goes along with the serpentine dragons that Hanzo and Genji summon for their Ultimate abilities. But you're not supposed to take maxims literally - the saying means a fast start and a slow finish, or an anticlimax. Like you think you see a dragon coming but as it slithers past you realize it's just a snake, I guess.

Kotaku posits that this was just a slip-up on Blizzard's part, since the studio presumably doesn't want people associating the Shimada brothers' story of betrayal and redemption with anticlimax. But I'm not so sure: the majority of Overwatch's player base can't read kanji, so if they go through all the trouble of looking up each character (there are thousands of them and their strokes are stylized by the calligraphy, so it's not a trivial task) and translating the saying, only to discover that it says "anticlimax"... Well, that would be appropriately anticlimactic.

You may like
  • Overwatch characters dress like Sanrio mascots Blizzard renames Overwatch 2 to Overwatch years after deciding Overwatch was Overwatch 2 which was still Overwatch
  • Overwatch is only in "the beginning of a comeback," lead says, as Blizzard plans to keep "making the best game" for fans
  • Nier Automata With Nier Automata, Overwatch is collecting JRPG crossovers like Infinity Stones, but fans aren't happy with the skins

Given Blizzard's usual attention to detail and penchant for self-deprecating Easter eggs, I'd guess this was very much on purpose.

Seen something newsworthy? Tell us!

Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.
CATEGORIES
PC Gaming Xbox One PS4 Platforms Xbox PlayStation
Connor Sheridan
Connor Sheridan
Social Links Navigation
Former GamesRadar+ News Writer

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar+.

Read more
Overwatch characters dress like Sanrio mascots
Blizzard renames Overwatch 2 to Overwatch years after deciding Overwatch was Overwatch 2 which was still Overwatch
 
 
Overwatch is only in "the beginning of a comeback," lead says, as Blizzard plans to keep "making the best game" for fans
 
 
Nier Automata
With Nier Automata, Overwatch is collecting JRPG crossovers like Infinity Stones, but fans aren't happy with the skins
 
 
Overwatch characters dress like Sanrio mascots
"The mood all week" - After a year of Marvel Rivals dominance, Blizzard is just happy you're playing Overwatch again
 
 
Jetpack Cat flying through the air
Blizzard drops Overwatch Jetpack Cat lore and everyone agrees there's something fishy with that feline: "No good"
 
 
Overwatch's Jetpack Cat hero, a ginger cat sitting on a floating blue vehicle, looks into the camera.
Blizzard insists its Overwatch rebrand isn't "us trying to admit there was a failure"
 
 
Latest in Action
GTA Online Clovers
GTA Online Lucky Clover locations and how to find a Golden Clover
 
 
1348 Ex Voto gameplay showing
1348 Ex Voto review: "Filled with potential, this action-adventure fails to deliver"
 
 
Bizarre Lineage codes
Bizarre Lineage codes (March 2026) for free Stat Point Essence, Rare Chests, and more
 
 
Kratos approaches Aphrodite's bedchamber in God of War 3
"The God of War sex mini-games were designed by women," which is why Aphrodite's bed looks "like a labia"
 
 
GTA 6
Some of GTA 6's big ideas are likely hiding in GTA 5, ex-Rockstar dev predicts – and you can look at GTA 4 to see why
 
 
Screenshot from Ratcheteer DX, showing a GBC-style cave with four pixelated characters finding warmth around a fire.
The Legend of Zelda-esque game mimics the GameBoy to GameBoy Color transition, goes from retro handheld to PC and Switch
 
 
Latest in News
Invincible season 4
Invincible creator Robert Kirkman says fans will "finally get what they're asking for" with the introduction of Thragg
 
 
Tim Roth as Beckett reading with his feet on a desk in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man villain Tim Roth starred in The Incredible Hulk to "embarrass" his kids
 
 
Fenris in Dragon Age 2.
Dragon Age 2 lead says "if some people are ambivalent" about the RPG's characters, "I guess I didn't really do my job"
 
 
Jeff the Land Shark as he appears in Marvel Rivals
Marvel Rivals devs are careful with balancing because "you have a vocal minority screaming the loudest"
 
 
Starfield
Bethesda will have "more to share next week" on Starfield as Todd Howard waves away claims he's a "visionary"
 
 
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 writer says picking an ending is like choosing a "favorite child" - "They are a pair"
 
 
LATEST ARTICLES
  1. Invincible season 4
    1
    Invincible creator Robert Kirkman says fans are "finally going to get what they're asking for" in season 4, as Thragg escalates the Viltrumite threat
  2. 2
    "Some ideas from Donkey Kong Bananza" may inform Nintendo's next big project, producer says, but "the standard is really what will feel fresh to a player in a new title"
  3. 3
    Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man villain Tim Roth starred in The Incredible Hulk and Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes remake to "embarrass" his kids
  4. 4
    Dragon Age 2 lead wanted players to have strong opinions about every character in the RPG: "If some people are ambivalent […] I guess I didn't really do my job"
  5. 5
    A Fallout 4 QA tester nuked the RPG so hard that Zenimax executives got emails about it: "I was running around super-nuking the entire wasteland and found 4 crashes in a single morning"

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Add as a preferred source on Google Add as a preferred source on Google
  • Terms and conditions
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Accessibility statement
  • Careers
  • About us
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...