The video games of the 90s, although not that old in the grand scheme of things, are a world away from the video games of today in many ways. One of those ways is diversity.
It has now been four months since Apex Legends dropped in on the battle royale obsession. It felt great to play, with a brilliant ping system, an interesting environment and foundations in the Titanfall franchise. It was also a surprise that instead of a standard one-size-fits-all player where all customisable features were purely aesthetic, we got a character shooter instead, with eight, now nine including Octane, diverse personalities filling our screens.
Bangalore, your standard soldier with an attitude to boot, and Lifeline, everyone’s favourite medic who can pull off a peace sign better than you, were standouts for me. Two black women? In a cast of nine? Never! I had never seen a game show off black women like this before. I know, I know – I played the Uncharted games. Yes, I am aware of Clementine and Riley. And no, Orisa certainly does not count. Apex Legends really is different, and even a cursory glance at the not-too-distant past shows why.
