Who is River the dog in Overwatch season 2?

Here’s a list of some of the guesses and why they definitely aren’t River:

• Murphy: Sojourn’s dog, little Corgi-coded thing (not River).
• Maisie: One of Hazard’s dogs, also a little gray thing (also not River).
• Hazard’s other dogs: an unnamed pack in one of his sprays, none of whom resemble River.
• Moira’s dogs: from an old spray showing what looks like a Doberman and maybe a Dachshund-adjacent breed (in other words, not River-shaped).
• Junker Queen’s dog: A few people said they remembered seeing a dog in Junker Queen’s animated short, but there isn’t one.
• Freja’s dog: River has aviator goggles, is the line of thinking here. But there’s no indication Freja has a dog (or that Freja was ever an aviator during her time as a criminologist or ever showed a preference for goggles).
• Wuyang’s dog: Because they’re called River, but there’s also no indication Wuyang has a dog.

You might think a random new spray would warrant little attention, but even the seemingly random ones have some connection to a current event or a hero. The Almendron car spray, for example, was a reward during a Havana-based event when Overwatch was still Overwatch, and the Mt. Fuji spray is a nod to the classic Hanamura map. This season’s River spray is also situated next to a new Fika (Jetpack Cat) spray, so a few people speculate that maybe Brigitte and Torbjorn adopted a dog as a companion for Jetpack Cat. It would explain the goggles, anyway.

Given its position next to Jetpack Cat, most folks hope the spray is a cheeky tease about an upcoming character. We’ve got two animal tanks (Winston and Wrecking Ball) and a cat support, the line of thinking goes, so all we need to round things off nicely is a dog DPS. Top suggestions include Tractor Dog (yes, please) and Sword Dog, though a few voices dissenting against the call for a damage hero make a good case for a healer. Imagine a support dog acting like one of those St. Bernards, rushing down the streets of Esperanca with life-saving care and a tail-wag for all.

This year’s Overwatch hero roadmap shows no dog-shaped characters planned for the next few seasons, but who knows? With oddball characters now back on the menu, maybe we’ll get a tractor DPS dog someday after all.