Apex Legends is most well known for its high octane battle royale action that sees players sliding down hills, riding zip lines, and nailing impressive sniper shots. However, Apex Legends is also set in the same universe as its predecessor, the Titanfall series. This sees Apex Legends inheriting a lot of the lore and setting information from Titanfall, which has helped the battle royale flesh out its champions since their own backgrounds and personalities are grounded in the setting. Unfortunately, none of Titanfall's iconic mechs have made an appearance yet.
Beyond the characters, Apex Legends' setting also comes with a number of factions, political situations, and planets that are spread across various star systems. This has helped Apex Legends to grow its pool of maps, with each being very different from one another and having its own personality. These maps help mix up matches so that players don't grow tired of seeing King's Canyon for years on end, while each of them also has unique features and characteristics, such as vehicles, for players to learn and adapt to.
The History of Colonization in Apex Legends
The Core Systems in Apex Legends have Earth and its solar system at its center with a handful of surrounded solar systems lumped in as well. Little is known about the geopolitical states in these systems beyond that they are all heavily populated and running dangerously low on resources. This led to a company known as the Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation (IMC) to begin investing in an interstellar colonization effort. However, conflict back in the Core Systems led to the IMC ignoring its colonies for decades, leading to them largely developing without the supervision or direction of their corporate creators. After the conflicts of the core systems were resolved, the IMC returned to the colonists to try and claim eminent domain for their resources, leading to a war with the colonial militia that is the subject of the story in the Titanfall games.
The conclusion of the war between the IMC and colony militia also left the colony worlds split into two areas known as the Frontier and the Outlands. The Outlands planets then fell into a civil war that further drained it of resources over the roughly seven-year war. Eventually, six of the Outlands planets signed a treaty and became Syndicate Space, causing the remaining three to be considered Fringe Worlds. However, one of the Fringe Worlds recently joined the Syndicate Space. Tensions remain high between the two factions in the Outlands, which could be developed either in Apex Legends or a future Titanfall game.
The Frontier Planets
- Angelia
- Cibus
- Demeter
- Eden
- Gridiron
- Harmony
- Leviathan
- Troy
- Typhon
- Victor
The Frontier planets are the most developed of the colonized systems, with Angelia being home to Angel City, which used to be one of the biggest cities in the Frontier. Cibus, on the other hand, is a mountainous planet that is mainly used for refueling ships on their way to the more distant planets of the Frontier. Its prime positioning and necessary facilities made it critical in the civil war for the IMC, who used it as a fueling post to attack Militia bases.
Demeter is right on the edge of the Frontier and is the closest planet to the Core Systems, making it the first colonized planet. Then there is Eden, a ringed planet that was advertised as a paradise to attract colonists before the IMC found fuel deposits on the planet and turned it into another mining center. The next planet, Gridiron, is the home planet of Apex Legends' Bangalore and is a primarily desert planet that is the most populated planet in the Frontier.
Harmony is a planet that is covered by farms with sparse towns scattered across its surface. The planet was also used as the core world for the Militia during the civil war, which saw it being heavily protected from the consequences of the war. Leviathan is named after the colossal monsters native to the planet that tower above its deserts and swamps. The planet's climate and atmosphere are conducive to human colonization, but the numerous predatorial lifeforms on the planet have made establishing colonies on the planet very difficult.
The planet Troy housed a small colony of IMC deserters, but they were eventually captured or slaughtered by the IMC, with the state of the planet now unknown. Typhon will be familiar to any players who checked out Titanfall 2's campaign, and it is also the home planet of the Wraith champion in Apex Legends. However, the planet was eventually destroyed. The final planet is Victor, a planet in the same system as Eden that was once vibrant and wealthy until the IMC's mining destroyed its natural beauty.
The Outlands Planets
- Solace
- Talos
- Psamathe
- Gaea
- Salvo
- Boreas
- Tartarus
- Nexu
- Raffi
The planets of the Outlands play a much bigger role in Apex Legends, as they hold all of the battle royale's maps. The first planet in the Outlands Solace is where Kings Canyon as well as being the home planet of Gibraltar, Mirage, Revenant, and Wattson. Solace was originally established by the IMC to act as a research and development outpost that was dedicated to working on some of the company's most devastating weapons.
Talos is a volcanic planet that holds Apex Legends' World's Edge map as well as being the home to a rare mineral compound that is only accessible thanks to the cooling towers installed by the IMC. Gaea, on the other hand, has a large urban population, although most of the planet is covered in farms. The planet is infamous for featuring a ruthless police force and tyrannical leaders.
Psamathe is a metropolitan Outlands planet that stands out for its high cost of living and oligarchy. The planet is the home of the resort map Olympus in Apex Legends, and it stands out from the other two for its more civilized feel. Salvo is a planet that was formerly one of the Fringe worlds before joining Syndicate Space, and it has been in a perpetual state of conflict between warlords for more than 50 years. The planet Boreas is the home planet of Seer and has a robust textile industry while being the target of frequent meteor showers after a passing asteroid clipped the planet's moon. The final planet that is part of Syndicate Space is Tartarus, although nothing is really known about it. A similar lack of information is available for the two remaining Fringe Worlds, Nexu and Raffi.
Apex Legends is available now on Mobile, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
