over watch has his One punch man skins. war zone has playable Snoop Dogg. Fourteen days has cosmetics for every imaginable celebrity and IP, from The Mandalorian to Ariana Grande. But Apex Legends has something none of these other games have: style.
Continue reading: The Game Awards’ bad fashion underscores the industry’s identity crisis
From Seer’s Afro-Futuristic fit to a bomber jacket so cool it had to make it to IRL, the team at Respawn never fails to come up with looks that are more than just empty collabs or tired recreations. And with an array of legends running the gamut in terms of race, gender identity and body type, there’s a diverse set of virtual paper dolls for you to add an adorable variety of veterans to.
Of course as my cityAs the senior fashion police officer, I spoke to the artists at Respawn over Zoom to learn more about what inspires them Titanfall to streetwear and even event horizon.
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echoes from Titanfall
Apex Legends‘ Stood in the Titanfall The universe presents both a unique challenge and a consistent direction for its designers: every single character and their gear must have a clear connection to the story and world of the legendary first-person shooter, which means that the team constantly focuses on this during development must relate figures. In some cases this inspiration is more evident than in others.
“Valkyrie was a design meant to be reflective Titanfallsays lead character concept artist Cristina Ferez of the high-flying Japanese-American character, who rocks a jetpack and can fire missiles normally reserved for fighter jets. “One of her biggest inspirations is actually her father’s mech [Viper was an antagonist in Titanfall 2
Tie each character’s appearance and gear to the Titanfall Universe also means grounding them in a kind of futuristic military realism you won’t find Fourteen days. For this reason, if you look closely you will notice a range of tactical garments such as cargo pants and gloves or gear hanging from belts, tucked into arm pockets and slung across the chest.
“There’s a very specific effort to ground things in a way that makes them feel tactical as if they’re functional,” says Hafid Roserie, Concept Art and Lighting Director. “It’s part of the DNA that the team brought with them Titanfall.“But the creative juices really start to flow once the team gets past the original character’s design and starts moving into their custom skins, which are often designed around a specific season’s theme. “When we start designing skins, we can get a little bit more playful and a little bit more expansive.”
skin in game
Respawn rarely pulls anything out of left field—Apex Legends‘ skins are all iterations of its original characters, taking their unique stories and using them as launch pads to reach newer, flashier heights. Skins don’t feel as obviously greedy as, say, Ghost Face in call of Duty or creed one Fourteen days-and when there’s an obvious pop culture inspiration involved, it feels reasonable. Horizon’s very obvious Scarlet Witch skin still has something to do with her character being able to manipulate gravity and open black holes.
“We ground the legend and the story, we ground it with the narrative, we take that DNA that we got from that Titanfall Aesthetics, where they’re combat-ready for the Apex games, but when it comes to their skins, we’re evolving them where we’re showing an alternate fantasy,” says Roserie. “So if you look at Horizon, she has a science background, so we’re like, ‘What’s science, what could be kinda cool? Well, it’s an alchemist. But then we also played around with something a little bit more outlandish, a little bit on the darker side of science. And so we have this kind of event horizon skin where it’s a little darker.”
As we chat, Ferez shares her screen to show off some of Seer’s concept art. His default skin features a mix of tactics Titanfall inspo (light armor on the chest, functional gauntlets) and more playful references to his character (he wears a crop top and a wide-brimmed hat), while his other looks depend on this visual language.
“Seer is a performer, so a lot of the skins had bright, bold colors and some of these elements that represent his character,” explains Rosarie, before Ferez swaps to show orange and gold. Afrofuturistic Skin wearing his infamous hat but redesigned in a way that feels more sci-fi, fantastical, and evokes the visual language of the cultural movement.
“The skins allow people to get a window into an alternate fantasy of him, so we have the hat, but how do we create elements where we can push and pull detail? We’re always trying to find that central anchor point… and then that kind of becomes a layer that we start building the different skins on.” Ferez goes through a few more images of the team’s sketching process. I glimpse the Catalyst’s newest character many iterations, some more inclined crazy maxothers more The fifth Element.
Fashion Forward
On the Titanfall Universum, the design team at Respawn tells me they’re always diving into the fashion scene for inspiration. And lately, it’s been easy to make connections between the tactical, efficient military equipment of Titanfallthe world of the near future and the fashion trends of today.
streetwear style shifted dramatically towards Gorpcore (utilitarian, functional outdoor clothing) and techwear (cyberpunk streetwear to protect the wearer from the elements) in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, which means cargo pants with tons of pockets, hiking boots, and weatherproof materials aren’t just for your cousin who’s been hiking the entire Appalachian Trail lately year – they are there for everyone.
Lifeline’s basic outfit could be found on many people walking through Brooklyn on a warm spring day: layered, ripped tank tops, baggy cargo pants that look like they could be tucked into shorts or capris, heavy, chunky combat boots, and two perfect ‘00s space buns on her head. The same goes for Rampart, whose look Ferez tells me is straight from streetwear fashion.
The worker weapons modder wears a mechanic’s jumpsuit, partially opened to reveal a crop top underneath and a high, messy ponytail in her base skin. Ferez’s moodboard for Rampart (who is of British-Indian descent) featured images of rapper MIA and streetwear shots of women wearing overalls casually falling off their shoulders, with a pair of Hypebeast trainers for good measure.
“With Rampart we wanted to bring all the spice of streetwear. We wanted to bring in the whole history that she has of being an underground mechanic, she’s a craftswoman, she doesn’t care what anyone thinks. She has her own style, so it was very unique to her,” explains Ferez. “The biggest thing is finding that attitude for a character… in this case, Rampart drew very heavily on that street fashion vibe but still retained parts of her culture, being British Indian it was important to bring certain colors with her , certain patterns and certain things for them.”
“Most of the time we go back to street fashion to give our Legends that contemporary and modern edge,” says Ferez. “I find street fashion so inspiring because it’s based on people using clothes to create their own identity.”
The Respawn design team’s love of fashion is probably the reason for Wraith tabis in her season 10 skin (pictured above), right? Or why one of Crypto’s most popular skins, which features a colorful down jacket, fierce sneakers, and a giant gold chain, is called hype beast? It’s definitely why Loba’s Purple Reign skin (and the Bangalore and Valkyrie skins that match it) contains an ode to Christian Louboutin iconic red soles.
Apex Legends‘ Characters look so good because their designs sit right where they are Titanfall meets streetwear, and their diversity gives players the ability to choose who they’re attracted to, outside of their gear and abilities within the current meta. That’s why my previously bald ass was so obsessed with getting this bald Wraith skinand why to this day I still use it with a lopsided smile on my face.