Preview: The Doomed Floating Utopia of Apex Legends

Ever since humans have dreamed of flying machines, they have also dreamed of flying cities. And, seemingly, have named these places after Greek mythological figures. In 1804 - twenty years after the first manned balloon flight - Belgian physicist, stage magician and balloonist Étienne Gaspard Robert imagined a flying ship that could travel the world, carrying a host of academics and scientists as it did so. Named La Minerve after the Greek goddess of wisdom, the vessel was to be kitted out with everything necessary for a global scientific mission. With viewing galleries, an observatory, gym, coffee shops, a church, and (incredibly) even a giant beer keg underneath, it would function almost as a small flying city in itself. 

While humorous in nature, the intention behind this fanciful project was somewhat more serious: it was intended to provoke alternative thinking about the possibilities of balloon flight. In his prospectus for the ship, Roberts opined that developments within the field of balloon aviation had stalled since its invention. He reminded readers of the huge leaps in progress between canoes and warships, and predicted the same could happen for balloons and aeronautics - noting that there was “no limit” to what the sciences and the arts could achieve. La Minerve was, therefore, a utopian vision of the future: not something that was necessarily realistic, but a thought experiment that could inspire change within present-day society. 

Fast-forward to the 2020s, and people are still dreaming up fantastical flying cities filled with scientists. This time, in video game form. In the battle royale game Apex Legends, you can find a map called Olympus: a futuristic flying city with a Greek name, held up by balloons, designed to be inhabited by scientists and artists. That all sounds rather familiar. It’s another utopian vision, another dream of what the future could be. Except by the time we view the fictional Olympus in-game, things have already gone awry. There’s a giant energy bubble on one end of the map, the city has been abandoned, and our very presence there confirms that something has gone terribly wrong. We’re participants in a televised blood sport, and we’re all battling to the death. It’s not what I’d call living the dream. 

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