New Overwatch heroes Junkrat and Roadhog make their official debut

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The lunatic duo of Junkrat and Roadhog have now been properly rolled out as the newest additions to the Overwatch lineup. Hailing from the irradiated wastes of Australia, the former members of the Junkers gang don't look to be all there, but they do seem to be having a good time.

The pair came together when Junkrat, a scavenger who found himself being pursued by bounty hunters and worse after he discovered an "extremely valuable secret in the bones of the omnium," offered the enforcer Roadhog a 50-50 split on the take from his misadventures in exchange for serving as his personal bodyguard. With the deal sealed, they embarked upon an international crime spree that, as noted yesterday, shows no sign of slowing down.

Junkrat, befitting his "explosives-obsessed" nature, lobs grenades with a Frag Launcher, can place and trigger homemade Concussion Mines, carries out a giant bear trap that injures and immobilizes anyone who steps into it, and as a final "up yours" to the world, drops multiple live grenades when he's killed. His Ultimate Ability is the Rip-Tire, a remotely-detonated "motorized tire bomb" he can send across the battlefield, including over walls and obstacles.

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Roadhog, meanwhile, appears to be more of a straight-up brawler. He fires a short-range Scrap Gun that can also launch longer-range "shrapnel balls," has the ability to restore his own health when he's injured, uses a heavy chain to snare enemies and pull them into close range, and as an Ultimate, can attach a top-loader onto his Scrap Gun and use it to fire a devastating stream of shrapnel that knocks back enemies.

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I'm still not sure how these two come to be called "heroes," but I suppose that's not something that demands too much in the way of heavy consideration. A more pertinent question is, how will they do in a fight? That remains to be seen: Overwatch appeared on the Battle.net launcher in August but we're still waiting for the beta to begin. You may sign up for it through your Battle.net account settings.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.