Update: The jury is in, and we’ve decided that
this is the battle royale revival we needed. Read more in our complete Apex Legends review.
Respawn Entertainment, the developer behind Titanfall and its underrated sequel Titanfall 2, is back with an all-new battle royale shooter set in the Titanfall universe. Apex Legends is a battle royale featuring plenty of Respawn’s personal creativity — and it’s available for free right now.
Set after the events of Titanfall 2 in a different section of the universe called the “Outlands,” Apex Legends is a class-based game rather than the build-your-own-character model used by many competitors. Each class has a unique personality and abilities that drastically separate them from one another. “Caustic,” for instance, makes use of toxic chemical weapons to kill enemies, while the robotic “Pathfinder” uses grappling hooks and zip lines similar to those seen in Titanfall 2.
The environment has also been designed to favor certain classes in particular locations, with the “Cascades” built for snipers.
Every class in Apex Legends has access to a tactical ability, an ultimate ability, and a passive ability, but they’ll still search for weapons on the ground like they do in other battle royale games. A “Jumpmaster” chooses when a squad will jump, and special “hot zones” are marked for the best gear. There are also roaming supply ships that have the most powerful gear, and you can redeploy by accessing a “Jump Tower.”
In keeping with the Respawn name, death in Apex Legends isn’t necessarily permanent. Once you’re knocked down, a teammate can revive you, but even complete “death” can be reversed if your teammate grabs your banner card and reaches a respawn beacon. In the process, you’ll lose your gear, but you’ll be able to fight another battle.
Weapons are customizable in Apex Legends, and you’ll have access to backpacks to hold more gear throughout a match. There will also be the opportunity to rank up your account and acquire cosmetic upgrades, but Respawn wants to keep a level playing field regardless of how much time someone has spent in the game to date.
Apex Legends is available for free now on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC, and Respawn plans to continuously update the game. New content is planned over the next few months, including weapons and challenges, and more characters will be added to the game as well.
However, the game is not being made in addition to a potential third Titanfall game. Speaking to Eurogamer, producer Drew McCoy explained Titanfall 3 was not in development, and that EA and Respawn chose to release Apex Legends without any advance marketing campaign in order to let the game “speak for itself.” Given that there was already concern regarding Respawn being purchased by Electronic Arts in 2017, we’ll have to wait see if the studio ever gets to make a third game.
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