To promote
Overwatch and the character, he was one of twelve heroes showcased in a playable build of the game at the 2014
BlizzCon convention. In October 2018, Blizzard partnered with
LEGO and revealed their first
Lego Overwatch set would feature a limited-edition Bastion featuring his appearance during the Omnic Crisis. Upon the character's debut, Bastion developed a reputation for being one of the game's most "contentious" and "polarizing" characters in the game, particularly due to his gameplay. Video game journalists attributed much of this to how players perceived the character as too easy to be good, describing him as the "
noob tube of
Overwatch, and in particular how the game's "Play of the Game" feature would often highlight the character's achieved kills post-match.
PC Gamers Evan Lahti argued instead that the problem with Bastion's early version was not that the character was overpowered, but instead "not fun". Drawing a comparison to the sentry turrets of the Engineer in
Team Fortress 2, he pointed out while they were much stronger the game provided players with many ways to counter them, and helped provide other game mechanics and roles with greater synergy to do so. This was not the case with Bastion however, who he described as
Overwatchs least interesting playable character. His ability to self heal in particular removed several tactical options the character could implement, and made him as a result more of an isolated character in the game. In this way, Lahti suggested the issues with Bastion represented that the
Overwatch development team could learn from the interconnectedness of
Team Fortress 2s playable cast and "the way that each character enhances the identity of other characters". Others however voiced praise for the design of Bastion's gameplay. Ethan Gach in an article for
Kill Screen stated that due to the character within the scope of
Overwatch the "mantra of 'aim better, click harder' actually does produce results", encouraging players plan and accept some fights as unwinnable, rather than charging in. Gach likened the frustration with Bastion to the mentality behind the
Gatling gun, and despite
its creator's hope that it would positively alter human behavior, human nature proved his ambitions wrong.
Kotakus Luke Plunkett meanwhile appreciated how different Bastion was as a character in the first-person shooter genre, noting that while he had options similar to others, his gameplay was rooted more in knowing the layout of the game's loaded arena and best location to deploy his gatling gun, comparing it to gameplay found in the
multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) genre of gaming. Plunkett stated he loved this strategic element of the character's design, and while imperfect, Bastion allowed him to enjoy a genre of gaming he had not in some time and praised how that resulted from the developer team "getting crazy with its character designs".
As a fictional character Despite the negative reception the character's gameplay had received, as a fictional character Bastion was more well received after the release of
Last Bastion, with
Daily Dot writer Joseph Knoop stating while a one-note character Bastion was also "the first face of how
Overwatchs omnipresent threat [...] wasn't purely a force for evil." Kris Ligman of
Fanbyte stated that while the
Overwatch story had "toyed with its 'post-war, reignited conflict' narrative setting in a few ways", Bastion's portrayal in the short could be interpreted as having
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In this manner, they found it served as a powerful means of making the point, one they furthermore found sincerely moving. Nathalie Medina of
player.one felt it helped to highlight omnics in the
Overwatch universe as "a step-up from dumb robots" in how they can learn and experience their surroundings, reasoning it made sense such characters would suffer from PTSD, furthered by the character's body language of fear and dismay in the aftermath of the unintended destruction. Nathan Grayson of
Kotaku meanwhile found it opened serious discussion about PTSD amongst fans as well. He also appreciated the relatability of how Bastion was mentally transported to a "traumatic time" from the sound of something that sounded like gunfire. Grayson felt it was a strong point to ruminate on, noting that while in the environment of the time often made light of people suffering from such episodes as being "triggered" it was a reality for some people to be set off by the littlest things, and he praised Blizzard for addressing it. At the same time however he noted that fans also felt there was a disconnect between the short and the games, the latter of which showed Bastion returning to a life of conflict. Stephen Asmirch of
player.one meanwhile appreciated how Bastion's character interactions with Torbjörn illustrated omnics in the
Binary comic, showing that while humanity still feared them due to memories of the war, the omnics were able to change their programming and directives, contrary to belief. Asmirch conceded that the comic was likely not intentionally bringing up these philosophical questions, but noted it illustrated how the
Overwatch universe was less about clear good versus evil and instead more about how humanity reacts when technology achieves consciousness. Prior to
Overwatch 2s release of its
Invasion storyline content,
Game Rants Richard Warren expressed he found the dynamic between the characters interesting, and was intrigued to see if the game would illustrate how the two became friends given Torbjörn's own past conflicts with omnics. He further hoped that it could lead to character development in
Overwatch 2s story for others in the cast such as
Reinhardt who had their own past traumas with the omnics. ==References==