Apex Legends’ lore is a convoluted beast, spanning comics, novels, tweets, and more if you want to get the full picture of its evolving narrative. Even the voice lines that characters say to each other can have ramifications to the ongoing story that Respawn is trying to tell. There’s no good way to keep up with it all, and Respawn’s own lore compendium is solely internal at present. But the best elements of Respawn’s storytelling come when it gives us a playable level in the game with the sole purpose of telling stories and fleshing out its characters.
Somehow, this nearly always revolves around Loba. Her playable story started back in 2020, as she hunted for Revenant’s real brain after the robot assassin murdered her parents. She stalked through Kings Canyon at night, fighting off waves of Prowlers and collecting the components to Titanfall antagonist Ash’s head. The PvE missions were a breath of fresh air, but they have been few and far between in the years since.
Of course, you can ignore all this. You can just jump into battle royale matches and play shooty bang bangs without so much as acknowledging the ongoing story that Apex is trying to tell behind the gunfights. You won’t be able to escape its LGBTQ+ positive approach to characters’ relationships – those voice lines are still dripping with sexual tension – but you can ignore the fact that Loba’s been spending her evenings killing beasts and collecting bots.
If you’re a Revenant main, however, you might have noticed your character glitching out recently. Your icon flashes and creaks when you select him from the menu, and lines of code occasionally invade your screen mid-match like you're seeing into a red version of the matrix. All this seems to be leading to a rework for the character’s abilities next season, which will inevitably be accompanied by a healthy dose of new lore.
The Loba and Revenant storyline is one of the best in the game, spanning years as the translocating thief meticulously plots her revenge on the being that orphaned her. The biggest twist occurred when she chose not to destroy Revenant’s brain, as she finally understood the eternal pain he was living in as a man-turned-robot. It was a worse fate to force him to continue the suffering of existence.
The story continues in Season 17, as we embark on the Kill Code: A Thief’s Bane mission. Instead of taking place in a location we’ve explored already like Kings Canyon, we’re in a new location, a factory of sorts. The doors are locked, and you need to use Loba’s abilities – mostly her teleport bracelet – to make your way through the maze of half-destroyed rooms.
There are no enemies, this is just platforming and Loba monologuing to herself. It’s a bold departure from everything that Apex usually is, but it works. The locations are impressive, drawing liberally from Titanfall’s palette, and the platforming just the right amount of challenging for a narrative level. It feels part Titanfall (with teleporting replacing the wallrunning) and part Alien Isolation, thanks to the number of vents you crawl through. Navigating an intense zipline section is about as hard as it gets, but it’s great fun to play a single-player game with Apex’s beautiful movement.
Everything about Kill Code: A Thief’s Bane makes me want a full single-player experience made for Apex Legends. No, I’m not asking for Titanfall 3. I’m asking for a game that utilises the huge wealth of lore and intra-character relationships that Apex has built, without the PvP. I want lovingly crafted levels that can be completed by any Legend, with each of their abilities helping in different ways. Apex’s drip fed story is done well, but I want to slurp it all up over a 20 hour campaign.
I’m not going to say Apex’s slick gameplay is wasted on multiplayer, because it’s my favourite multiplayer game, probably ever. But it lends itself so perfectly to a single-player or co-op PvE campaign that I can think of nothing else. Loba’s latest narrative mission has lodged itself in my brain, and leaves me wanting so much more.