Bastion’s body language is that of fear and dismay: he stares at his gun, his hand opening and closing helplessly as he sees Ganymede’s ruined nest on the ground, surrounded by ammunition. He pops out of turret mode, his red light flashing back to blue in a stuttering fashion. Unable to locate the source of the sound, Bastion’s blue light turns red and he engages turret mode, destroying everything in a circle around him. The woodpecker’s loud pecking sounds very much like gunfire. Bastion sits up in a hurry, and the music grows tense. That’s when the woodpecker starts hammering away at a tree. Ganymede even starts building a nest on his shoulder, and Bastion peacefully offers him a twig to help. Bastion pokes at his own reflection in the river, watches Ganymede hunt a worm, and sits still as butterflies perch on him. It’s some Disney or Studio Ghibli type animation out here as Bastion holds out his hand palm-up in the rain, just in time for Ganymede to perch on his fingertips and take a sip of the water pooled there. The bird tweets and whistles, watching Bastion as he tromps diligently through a magically beautiful forest. As he gets to his feet, flowers, dirt and grass fall off his shaking frame.

“The Last Bastion” starts with the most innocent, sunshiney music imaginable as the world’s sweetest, prettiest little bird persistently pecks at Bastion, who randomly whirrs to life. And Bastion’s PTSD? Real.Ĭheck out Overwatch ’s latest animated short, straight outta Gamescom: “The Last Bastion” didn’t tell us much we didn’t already know, but that little bird, Ganymede? Adorable.

Today at Gamescom, Blizzard premiered their newest animated short, “The Last Bastion,” all about the lovable robo-turret that runs on salt and tears.

The last bastion animated short