Respawn Entertainment's free-to-play battle royale, Apex Legends, has always stood out from the crowd. Compared to other hero shooters and battle royales, Apex Legends' fluid movement mechanics and powerful hero abilities make for a game which appeals to a large audience. But what truly makes Apex Legends stand out in an ever-growing sea of battle royale games is the level of care the narrative team puts into writing and creating the game's characters. While plenty of games have characters with interesting backstories, very few live-service shooters feature this level of detailed lore, with individual stories that curate believable and organic characters.
Every legend is unique--each of them has highly detailed backstories, motives, desires, and pet peeves. Respawn further develops its characters by introducing relationships between the legends themselves. Some of these relationships are romantic, while others are platonic, but the ever-evolving state of each character's interpersonal relationships gives the legends an added layer of depth, with in-game voice lines that change from season to season based on plot developments from previous seasons.
From day one, Respawn has made it quite clear that it values diversity and inclusivity, and seeks to foster a similarly diverse, inclusive community among its playerbase. The game launched with an openly gay character (Gibraltar) and a nonbinary character (Bloodhound). As the game evolved, so did the roster, with later seasons introducing LGBTQ+ characters Loba, Fuse, Valkyrie, and Seer.
Other LGBTQ+ legends were lurking in plain sight. Despite being in the game from the very beginning, Bangalore was not officially confirmed as lesbian until Season 13. But the revelation didn't come out of nowhere--players had spent months watching Bangalore and Loba's initially antagonistic relationship slowly blossom into romance, coming to a head in Season 9 when Loba's near-death experience scared Bangalore enough that she refused to take their relationship further--or even admit that they had one.
Instead of just telling players that Bangalore is gay, Apex's developers put together a story that blended multiple aspects of Bangalore's personality into a plot development that didn't seem forced. Bangalore's trust issues, PTSD, and generally guarded demeanor all came together in a manner that made her coming out story fit seamlessly into the game's current storyline. By the time her sexual orientation was officially confirmed, few (if any) players were surprised, because everyone had gotten to know Bangalore, similar to the way many people sense that a close friend may be LGBTQ+ long before the person has come out officially.
Respawn doesn't just dabble in surface-level representation--the studio is committed to creating realistic characters who aren't tokenized or reduced to their sexuality, gender, or race. Loba is a perfect example--when she arrived on the scene in Season 5, there was no announcement regarding her sexuality (or that of Bangalore, who would enter a "will they, won't they" back-and-forth with the enchanting thief in the following seasons). Instead, players were given little hints about Loba. One of her intro quips is "I'm a maneater and a ladykiller--I enjoy variety," and Loba often refers to all the legends (save Revenant) as "beautiful" when talking to them. Her sexuality informs how she talks but doesn't define who she is.
And, brilliantly, Respawn used a character who was so confident in her sexuality to tell a compelling coming-out story for Bangalore. Bangalore's unique dialogue with Loba betrayed the former IMC soldier's interest in the bewitching thief, evolving to reveal that Bangalore's stoic heart had feelings for a woman. When Loba and Bangalore's romance became somewhat official in Season 9, it didn't feel forced or artificial, mainly due to Respawn's excellent character development over the course of four seasons, which primed players to expect a potential romance between the two legends. Season 9's real surprise wasn't the revelation that Bangalore and Loba had feelings for each other, it was that the arrival of Valkyrie posed a threat to that relationship.
So how does Respawn manage to juggle a story with, as of Season 13, 21 main characters, all of whom have unique, intricately detailed pasts, personalities, and preferences? We decided to go to the source, emailing Apex Legends lead writer Ashley Reed and narrative director Manny Hagopian. Those questions and their responses are transcribed below.
Do you ever regret introducing canon relationships into Apex Legends, queer or otherwise, between the playable characters as opposed to just having the legends date NPCs?
Hagopian: I don't regret much in our writing. If we make a choice, we follow through with it until we are able to make another choice in a different direction. The best thing about Apex is that we are able to try new things and change them if needed in a natural and organic way. Life itself is full of wrong choices, so it's only natural that our characters experience the same. We're just as imperfect as our characters, that's what helps make them real and relatable. That said, I think the power of keeping our characters interacting with each other as opposed to NPCs outside of the games allows us to keep the conversations active in the moment and further define the relationships among our Legends.
Reed: Where's the fun in that? I was admittedly cautious about introducing relationships in the early days, when people (including us) were still trying to understand what Apex was and where it lived in our universe. But after the Broken Ghost quest, that all changed--we dipped a toe into more dramatic interpersonal storytelling, and we had a lot of fun writing those squabbles and will-they-won't-they scenarios right along with the action. The audience liked it, too, so we knew we were onto something. Now it's another tool in our toolbox--we want to tell all kinds of stories about these characters, from their lowest moments to their most dramatic victories, and romance has a place in that. We still want to leave room for fans to have fun and imagine their own scenarios, and to introduce important characters who aren't playable (it would be weird if the Legends only ever interacted with each other--go outside, make some friends who don't shoot at you!). But this is another facet of our characters that we can explore.
Are relationships between legends, queer or otherwise, planned out from the beginning, or do some of them happen organically while the story is still being developed?
Reed: A bit of both--and that's the story of writing in general, especially for an evolving narrative like ours. We've had a lot of plans that have come to fruition mostly like we envisioned, and plenty of others that were left by the side of the road in favor of something else. Character relationships are the same way--there are some you think are perfect at first that fall apart as time goes on, and others that you didn't even consider flower before your eyes. Ultimately, we have to be flexible--if something isn't working the way you planned, or something else is taking off in a way you didn't expect, don't be rigid. Watching a storyline naturally unfurl because it fits so perfectly into what you've already done is the best feeling.
Hagopian: Ashley has been more in the trenches with this and that's because as the story and game grows, the characters grow with each new Legend. When we first shipped Apex, we did not plan ahead of time any romantic relationships or even had plans for such things, but as we developed the characters and discovered the connections they had with each other, those relationships naturally emerged. It's important to note that we don't have a box to check that reads: “Relationship Status” or “Which Legend to Ship With.” We don't force these developments, we discover these developments. Our writers' room often leads to these discoveries and if we feel passionate about them, we explore them further.
Some characters are revealed to be queer the day of their addition (like Gibraltar and Seer), while others go a long time before the Apex Legends team officially confirms it (most notably, Bangalore). How do you determine when is the right time to disclose that information to the playerbase, especially given fans' desire to not be queerbaited?