The Hottest New Game, ‘Apex Legends,’ Has Two LGBTQ+ Characters

Move over, Overwatch. Watch out, Fortnite. The queer representation is coming.

A brand new battle royale is already making waves in the gaming world not only because it boasted 2.5 million players in its first 24 hours of release on February 3, but also because it's queer AF, Game Revolution reports. In the game, users can choose one of eight characters and join squads of three players in a gorey competition of up to 60 online opponents.

It turns out that, according to the official character bios from game creator EA, two of the eight original playable characters -- more are unlockable -- are LGBTQ+. According to the bio for Gibraltar, the character is a "gentle giant with wild side." (Extreme same.) The bio says that he "began to understand the value of protecting others when he and his boyfriend stole his father's motorcycle, took it on a joyride and got trapped by a deadly mudslide." His father lost an arm trying to save them and he has since devoted his life to helping those in need.

Then there's Bloodhound, a mysterious tracker character, about whom little is known. What is known is that the community manager at Respawn, the video game development studio behind Legends, confirmed in an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun that Bloodhound is "non-binary, or at least non-specified, in terms of gender."

The diversity on the roster isn't limited to queerness. Two of the eight characters are also Black women, a rarity in video games. Overwatch, despite being considered one of the best video games in terms of representation, has yet to introduce a playable Black female character. In January, Overwatch announced that one of its most popular characters, Solider: 76 was gay. He was the game's second queer character after a short comic announced that its de facto mascot, Tracer, was a lesbian.

In fact, the only playable white male character on the roster, Caustic, is behind a $7.99 paywall. Players can also unlock him after hours and hours of grinding.

Several cishet gamers are already mad about the LGBTQ+ "agenda" being put in video games. One Reddit thread on the subject of LGBTQ+ Apex Legends characters had to be shut down due to some whiny cishet tears. According to a Twitter thread, one gamer even posted a plea to game creator EA asking that they make Gibraltar straight because the player didn't want to play with a gay hero.

Related | 'Overwatch' Might've Just Confirmed Soldier: 76 As Queer