Kaplan created an eight-page pitch for a first person shooter concept to propose the idea, starting with an eight-page pitch that included a series of proposed characters, among them a white woman called "Architect" clad in a yellow dress with exposed thighs, armed with a blaster and a three-pronged "arc welder" replacing her left hand on a cybernetic arm.

[1] The concept went through several revisions afterword before returning to the original proposal design as a base,[2] renaming the character "Symmetra" and making her a woman of Indian descent.

[5] Symmetra is also autistic, something originally only alluded to in a tie-in comic for the game until a fan asked Kaplan directly and he confirmed it in a letter response.

[3] Overwatch 2's narrative designer Joshi Zhang fleshed out this aspect further in 2022, giving her voice lines that referenced her heightened sensory input and behaviors that allow her to stim.

To this end her finalized design incorporated a blue dress with gold trim and thigh-high black stockings to give the imagery of a mage's robes.

It was later shortened to a finned visor with transparent blue front to allow players to see her face, incorporating a maang tikka in its design while long earrings dangled from her ears.

Of particular note, the "Vishktar" skin presents her in a blue-and-white lab uniform with her hair tied into a bun and her visor front replaced with orange lenses.

Months later Vishkar rebuilds the surrounding area, though Symmetra noticed no additional housing has been built, and expresses concerns about her company and their possible involvement in the destruction.

In it, Symmetra helps with restoration efforts after development in Roshani, India causes a tremor that damages a religious statue in a nearby temple.

It explores her past with the character Lifeweaver, as she visits him on behalf of Vishkar to ask for his help repairing Paris after an attack by the terrorist group Null Sector.

Lastly, the character was reclassified as "Damage" class,[21] which in Overwatch 2 additionally provides her a short-term boost to her reload and movement speed after killing an enemy.

Ahmed acknowledged that was partly due to the nature of the type of game Overwatch is, though felt in-game voice lines and external cinematics could still explore it further.

In particular most of the influence was cited as coming from Kali, with Rizvi expression their belief that a god most commonly associated with being "a vicious slayer seems out of character for Symmetra's lore as an architect and her in-game role".

[29] Ryan Khosravi in an article for Mic noted player criticism of Symmetra's cultural portrayal, and voiced their own stating "Overwatch falls back on lazy stereotypes and Western-imposed nationalities."

[30] Guilherme Pedrosa Carvalho de Araújo and Gleislla Soares Monteiro in the Brazilian journal Revista Sistemas e Mídias Digitais on the other hand praised her cultural depiction, noting that the emphasis on her as a brilliant architect and lack of romantic attachment or focus on such as a departure from how Indian women are often portrayed in media.

[32] Eurogamer's Laura Francis, herself a person of color on the autism spectrum, stating "Symmetra's inclusion in the game made me internally scream with huge delight."

She added it was a refreshing change from portrayals such as The Big Bang Theory's Sheldon Cooper, and was extremely empowering to see a woman like her in a video game.

[33] Clinical psychologist Alexander Kriss in an article for Kill Screen praised Blizzard for their subtlety towards it early on, something they felt was rare on the subject of mental health in mainstream media, and avoided making her a "poster child" for portrayals of autism in gaming.

Additionally he appreciated that the character was not portrayed in a stereotypical fashion, having some expressed aspects but "'Rain Man' she is not", and it helped illustrate that there are varying degrees of autism and encouraged conversation regarding that instead of relying on one "typical" perception.

Such players built an online Reddit community around the concept, investing hundreds of hours of play for what they see as a "strategic" character that "requires critical thinking".