In the latest episode of playable Filipino characters in video games, Apex Legends joins the list with the introduction of their newest legend, Conduit.
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If we had a peso for every time a video game would include a playable Filipina character with electricity powers, we’d have two, but the fact that there’s more than one seems to indicate that developers have a type. And that number is about to go up by one, as after Zeri from League of Legends and Neon from Valorant, a new playable Filipina with the power to control electricity enters the fray with Apex Legends’ Conduit.
UTANG NA LOOB
If you’ve been keeping up with Apex Legends as of late, then you’d know that EA’s popular free-to-play battle royale is launching its 19th Season this October 31, with the new update introducing a new playable character. Over the past few days, Respawn Entertainment has been teasing that the new character was going to be of Filipino origin after it shared an image of the legend talking to their parents in a mix of English and Tagalog. The release of their latest Stories from the Outlands series gave us our first look at the Filipina.
As the four-minute video shows, we find a young Conduit as her village is being attacked by the Ion Force. That is, until, a Monarch Titan with a shoulder detail of the sun seen on the Philippine flag lands and saves the village. As the titan 1-v-5s other titans, it decides to nuke itself (a true Titanfall experience), saving the village. We then find Conduit growing up in happier times with her family, all while lines of Tagalog and other displays of local culture are seen.
But one day, her sister, Rowenna, comes home with a grave injury, which affects her family’s livelihood as bills start to pile up on the table. Desperate to help her family, Conduit goes to the grave site of the fallen Monarch Titan as her exposure to the radiation from the mech’s battery gives Conduit her powers that she will use in the Apex Games as she seeks to help her family.
A FILIPINA LEGEND
Conduit’s origins tie into the title for her Stories from the Outlands video, For Us, Utang na Loob, as it serves as a reflection of how she Apex Games because of how it’s her turn to help her family. “Inspired by the hero that once saved her life, Conduit trades her own future for the opportunity to become an Apex Legend and provide for her family,” says the official description of the video. A very Filipino origin story is we do say so ourselves.
In the game, she’ll don blue and yellow armor crafted from a Titan, a fitting homage considering that she was saved by and got her powers from a Titan. As per her gameplay trailer, Conduit’s passive is Savior’s Speed, which grants her increased movement speed when running towards a teammate outside tactical range. Her tactical is Radiant Transfer, which grants her allies temporary shields. Her ultimate, meanwhile, is Energy Barricade where she launches an array of shield jamming devices that damages and slows enemies. You can check out the support legend for yourself when she launches alongside Season 19 on October 31.
Continue Reading: Neon Is The Latest Agent Coming To Valorant, And She’s Filipino
