Apex Legends has had a busy 2020 down to the very end. During the last week of the year, Respawn released an episode of Stories from the Outlands and revealed that Loba didn’t destroy Revenant’s source code—two critical pieces of information for the road ahead.
The past year was a rich one for lore in Apex, not just for the narratives themselves but also in the media used to tell the stories. This year saw the adoption of season quests, from the text-based format of The Broken Ghost to full-fledged comics during seasons six and seven. The latest development in Loba and Revenant’s storyline also flirted with a nearly audio-only model that drafted voice actors Fryda Wolff and Darin DePaul to advance the storyline between the simulacrum and the thief.
With so much happening in one year, we’ve selected our favorite moments in Apex lore in 2020, in no particular order. From Pathfinder’s unwavering kindness to Revenant’s unbridled aggression, here are some of the best moments that took place this year.
Pathfinder’s creator(s) (season seven)
The latest episode of Stories from the Outlands is proof that 2020 keeps on giving for Apex fans—even in the last week of the year. The Fight Night short shed some light on one of the battle royale’s oldest mysteries: the identity of Pathfinder’s creator.
The cinematic doesn’t just give out all the answers and makes sure to save some for the upcoming developments (including a lore book that will detail Pathfinder’s quest to find his creator), but gives fans a direction to look in—and it may be toward Olympus.
The noir-inspired animated short shows that Pathfinder’s creator (or one of his creators) is Dr. Amelie P., who designed him in 2658—75 years before the events of Apex. He has a “great purpose” critical to the fate of the Outlands, according to her. Although Pathfinder lost the actual video files of Dr. Amelie’s message, the recording drove him to find his creator—certainly a story hook that Respawn intends to explore in the coming year.
Loba finds the facility in Kings Canyon (season five)
Apex‘s Assimilation launch trailer formally introduced Revenant and showed the murder of Marcos and Alanza Andrade by the killer simulacrum. The season five launch trailer, on the other hand, showed us Loba Andrade’s search for revenge against Revenant—and how she almost got what she wanted.
Loba’s quest to destroy the simulacrum led her to an underground facility below Kings Canyon where she found Revenant’s only weakness: his source code. She shot at the glass that protected Revenant’s former head and triggered the facility’s self-destruct protocol—and took down a chunk of Kings Canyon with it.
Loba’s arrival had significant repercussions for the greater narrative in Apex. In addition to generating an unparalleled rivalry between the two (with Revenant making sure to twist the knife any time he could), her unfinished business with Revenant dragged the rest of the legends into the spotlight for Apex’s first season quest: The Broken Ghost.
The ending of The Broken Ghost (season five)
Apex‘s first season quest began as one of Loba’s plots to destroy Revenant for good. During its nine chapters (and an epilogue), however, the writers showed that the simulacrum and the thief weren’t the only focal points of the story.
Loba drafted the help of her fellow legends to dig up a mysterious artifact in an alternate dimension. The story reveals the reason she’s doing it: Hammond Robotics promised to give Loba the new location of Revenant’s source code in exchange for the relic.
In the epilogue, players can power up the artifact and discover that it’s not a “what,” but a “who”: Ash from the Titanfall franchise. During the scene, Ash shares a series of voice lines that are vital for the future narratives in Apex. Her saying that “all roads lead to Branthium” is a nod to the energy resource that appeared two seasons later, and one of her voice lines is a direct reference to a Horizon quote that surfaced in season seven. Ash’s role in the Apex universe is likely just starting.
Horizon’s arrival (season seven)
A broken promise, a suicide mission, and a wee bit of betrayal. Horizon is a woman out of her own time, a trailblazer who set out to solve a planet-wide energy crisis and in return received a stab in the back.
Nearly a century before the events of Apex, Olympus faced an energy crisis of unparalleled proportions. A brilliant scientist, Dr. Mary Somers, discovered that she could use an alternative energy source—a mineral called Branthium—to find a solution to the scarcity that plagued the city. Obtaining the mineral, however, would be a little complicated.
She drafted the help of her assistant, Dr. Reid, and embarked on a dangerous trip to the outskirts of a black hole. Once Dr. Somers successfully grabbed the Branthium, the assistant left her stranded in space for a lifetime. The time she spent near the Black Hole was equivalent to 87 years in her home city of Olympus. The city she once lived in was abandoned after an incident with the Rift and everyone she’d ever known—including her son—was more than likely dead.
But Horizon’s backstory, moving as it may be, isn’t her only contribution to Apex. Some of her quotes are a direct callback to Ash’s voice lines in season six and this connection could be an important plot point for the future of Apex in 2021.
Revenant kills Forge (season four)
In the season four devstream, Respawn community manager Jay Frechette revealed that the new legend would be Forge (“call him Jimmie!”), a five-time Hyperfighting Federation champion who wanted to conquer the Apex Games. Less than a week later, we saw Forge die on screen.
Players don’t usually expect characters to die—at least not outside of the Apex Games. But Forge’s death was far more important than his arrival. His gruesome murder on live TV ushered in a storyline that still ripples nearly a year after he was killed. And his former sponsor, Hammond Robotics, quickly became an important actor in the Frontier. Revenant took Forge’s place in the Apex Games and ushered in a series of new storylines that are still developing nearly a year after his introduction.
