Former Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan's favorite hero is Reinhardt, and reveals his charge was inspired by Left 4 Dead 2: 'It's what separates a great Rein from a sh*tty one'

Even though he's not on the cover art, Overwatch's tank hero Reinhardt is as synonymous with the hero shooter as Tracer. He was one of the original heroes to launch with the game and has remained incredibly popular as time has gone on.

"Reinhardt was actually my main," former game director Jeff Kaplan told Lex Fridman in a recent interview. "So I played the most of Reinhardt."

Kaplan said Reinhardt was an "amazing [former lead hero designer] Geoff Goodman design." He was conceptualized as a big armored protector character, so players would understand what to do immediately: "As soon as you give somebody a shield, they know what to do. They go into protector mode."

But to make Reinhardt work in a team-based game with six-player teams, his shield was designed so that allies could shoot through it. "The shield has since been copied by like every hero shooter since, and even non-hero shooters," Kaplan added—and he's right, it absolutely has.

"It's really interesting where the charge ability came from," he explained. "I was playing a ton of Left 4 Dead 2. You could play in versus mode where you could be one of the enemy zombie guys, and there was an enemy boss zombie called The Charger who had that charge ability. And I thought the reason that ability was so cool is because it's a commitment, once you press the button you're a runaway train. Watching Reinhardt's charge to their deaths is hilarious and it's what separates a great Rein from a shitty one."

Anyone who has ever watched an esports match of Overwatch with two Reinhardt's duking it out will know how much thinking actually goes into a hero who has a relatively simple kit. The charge is both a movement ability and a way to pin an enemy against a wall and kill 'em in a single move. But the risk skyrockets when you're against another Reinhardt who can do the exact same thing to you if you miss. Reinhardt vs. Reinhardt battles are the best example of the rock-paper-scissors gameplay that defined Overwatch.

Kaplan said he appreciates heroes when they're not overcomplicated. He brought up the cowboy Cassidy as an example of one of his favorites from the original roster: "It's a very simple hero, but the simplicity is what I like best in design." Like Reinhardt, Cassidy does a few things well and is pretty easy to understand within 30 seconds of playing him. You shoot your gun, you roll away from danger, and you hit the High Noon button when the enemy team least expects it.

I am not surprised that Kaplan was a Reinhardt player because it speaks to the kind of heroes Overwatch launched with 10 years ago. None of them were particularly complex because the real complexity was in the interactions between all of them on the battlefield. I've never been a Reinhardt player myself, but I've always respected how focused he is as a hero while still living up to the fantasy of the stalwart knight on the frontlines.