We Solved the Mystery of What Makes Up Tracer's Rewind Sound In 'Overwatch'
Tracer in the game 'Overwatch.' Image: Blizzard Entertrainment

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We Solved the Mystery of What Makes Up Tracer's Rewind Sound In 'Overwatch'

Can Tracer send us her SoundCloud mixtape?

A user over at the r/Overwatch subreddit was messing around in the source files of the popular multiplayer shooter Overwatch, and found a mysterious track hidden in one of the heroes' abilities.

Overwatch is a team-based online shooter set on a futuristic Earth, with a player base of 30 million and counting. Tracer, who is one of the most iconic characters in the game because she is featured on the game's packaging and promotional materials, can zip forward in time and get out of trouble by rewinding through her actions with her "Recall" ability.

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Reddit user rfilmyer found the sound clips for that ability in the game's files, slowed them down, and discovered a pretty catchy tune underneath.

Slowed down 50 to 25 percent, the sound files seem to combine to form part of a single song. Now, everyone is frantically looking for the original track. Some users at a different subreddit, r/hiphopheads, have claimed sounds a bit like British Grime—a genre known for its fast-paced beats and lyrical rap style—which would be a good match for the London-native Tracer.

Video: PlayOverwatch/YouTube. GIF: Jacob Dubé

The lyrics seem to be "move your body over here and go berserk," but some people are convinced it says "to the rhythm," or are throwing the word "circus" in there somewhere.

The forum hasn't been able to reach a consensus on what the track is and where it comes from. Is it Tracer's canonical favourite band? Is it an unreleased Lúcio track?

Motherboard reached out to developer Blizzard for info on the hidden track, and got an answer from Overwatch project audio director Scott Lawlor. Turns out it's a Frankenstein combination of samples and recordings, which might be why it was so difficult to pin down.

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"That layer of her [Tracer's] Recall sound is a recorded tape machine from a company called Sound Ideas," he said in an email. "We licensed one of their libraries - General HD SFX Collection. We are not aware of what song was used to create this sample. Her entire Recall sound is made up of 12 different samples all together and is a mix of recorded, synthesized and sampled content."

That's probably the most closure those searching through their Spotify playlists for a match will get, unless they have $1,498 to purchase the sound effects collection, time to go through its over 25,000 tracks, and the editing prowess to put them together in the right combination. I definitely don't want someone to do that and send us the results.

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