Apex Legends‘ latest season, Saviors, is around the corner and it’s adding a new hero: Newcastle. During a press event, Respawn Entertainment shared new details about the character, including his support move set and dad-inspired design.
Newcastle has one of Apex Legends‘ most intriguing backstories to date. Newcastle is a Captain America-like superhero in the game’s world who has tried and failed to qualify for the Apex Legends tournament time and time again. As it turns out, he’s so desperate to enter it because he’s in deep in debt. When a negotiation with his loan sharks turns violent, Newcastle’s dad, who’s related to Bangalore, decides to don the Newcastle mask and enter the battle royale in place of his son.
Described as a “protector,” Newcastle’s fatherly status isn’t just a fun piece of backstory. It’s a fundamental, guiding philosophy to all pieces of his design. In describing the character, the team jokes that they were excited to finally bring “cool dad representation” to the series.
In terms of his look, Newcastle wears a white superhero suit that includes a shield. If it looks a little tight on him, that’s on purpose — he’s wearing his younger son’s suit, after all. The team notes that they looked to give the character a traditional “dad bod” for the game, giving him a natural body type that we usually don’t get to see in video games.
New Castle’s kit
His move kit is entirely built around his shield, which gives him a support utility. His tactical ability is called Mobile Shield and it allows him to create an energy wall that can block incoming projectiles. It can even deflect some projectiles, sending them bouncing back at an enemy. It’s destructible though, and enemies will be able to target the top and bottom of it to break it down.
His ultimate, Castle Wall, follows a similar philosophy. Newcastle leaps into the air and slams down to create a “fortress” or sorts made up of one giant shield. While it doesn’t do any damage on impact, enemies who get to close will get slowed down by its electric field.
His most exciting and potentially game-changing ability is his passive perk, Retrieve the Wounded. Whenever Newcastle revives a fallen teammate, he’ll be able to drag them while doing so. When reviving, a shield will appear in front of him, protecting them both from incoming fire. Interestingly, that shield’s power is based on what knockdown shield Newcastle has equipped. Respawn explains that the item has historically been underused by players in Apex Legends, but Newcastle should make it a more valuable tool for teams to pick up.
So far, Newcastle seems to be an especially exciting addition to the game’s roster. His defensive capabilities are unique, allowing him to protect teammates and rush into danger to save fallen comrades. Those gameplay features are all narratively motivated by the fact that he’s a dad who’s literally in the Apex games to protect his son. It’s the most clever fusion of story and mechanics that the game has introduced to date.
Apex Legends: Saviors launches on May 10 for all supported platforms. The season adds Newcastle to the roster and makes changes to the Storm Point map (which now has a dead lobster kaiju at the center of it). Apex Legends Mobile is also launching sometime this month.
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