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Apex Legends, Respawn’s Titanfall battle royale, is available right now

'Apex Legends' is set in the Titanfall universe, but 'Titanfall 3' isn't next

Image used with permission by copyright holder

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.

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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.

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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.”

Image used with permission by copyright holder

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.

Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
Apex Legends’ next season increases the level cap and removes self-revive
Relic is a new part of Kings Canyon's rework in Apex Legends Season 14.

Season 14 of Apex Legends is almost upon us, so Respawn Entertainment and EA revealed some of the major reworks coming to the game with when the Hunted season begins. Namely, the developers highlighted the redesigned Kings Canyon, increased level cap, and balance updates like the removal of self-revive.
In 2020, Loba blew up Skull Town in Kings Canyon. Now, the entire map is seeing a rework as part of Season 14 to improve the pacing and balance of matches on the map. Skull Town is now called Relic and is a bit bigger, the Cage was reworked to be a little lower and more vulnerable, Hillside's interiors were removed, and Broken Relay is now called Basin and got new buildings. Those, along with the other visual update Kings Canyon got, should make this old Apex Legends map feel brand new again.

Another big change is coming to account levels. Previously, there were 500 levels for players to work their way through. Starting with Season 14, players can work their way to level 500 three more times, technically increasing the level cap to 2000. This means that players will now be able to earn 544 Apex Packs and an Heirloom by leveling up. The start of Season 14 will also introduce some notable balance changes to Apex Legends, as is to be expected.
Some notable changes are that SMGs and pistols have a new laser sight attachment, the Wingman will now use sniper ammo, the Spitfire will now light ammo, the EVA-8 will see an increased fire rate, handling, and reload speed, and more. Most notably though, self-revive is getting removed. This is complicated by a change to Gold Equipment perks, including a new one for the Backpack called Deep Pockets that increases the number of medical supplies players can carry.Apex Legends is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch. Season 14 begins on August 9. 

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How to get Legend Tokens in Apex Legends
Bloodhound stands with their crow Artur in Apex Legends.

Apex Legends uses a variety of in-game currencies to facilitate character unlocks and customization options. Crafting Metals and Apex Coins might be the most popular forms of currency, but Legend Tokens are arguably just as important. They’re not easy to come by, yet they offer some significant benefits and are worth chasing down.

Here’s how to get Legend Tokens in Apex Legends, the fastest ways to farm them, and what they can be used to purchase.

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Apex Legends Mobile Perks guide: How do Perks work?
Wraith steps out of a portal in Apex Legends.

While it once was a novel concept, it's now become the standard for FPS games to come with at least a few RPG elements in them. Usually, they come in the form of XP progression systems that gradually unlock new items, cosmetics, and things of that nature. Apex Legends took those ideas and expanded them to incorporate unique heroes called Legends that have their own classes and set of abilities. While it is by no means a full-on RPG -- the better shooter will win the day almost every time -- this extra layer of complexity helped make the game have an even higher skill ceiling to explore.

Apex Legends Mobile, rather than dumb down the core experience, actually adds even more RPG elements. Perks are a new system that adds a new way to further tweak and customize your favorite Legends. This system is brand new to the mobile version, so even those who have been playing the console and PC versions will need to learn how this system works. To get you caught up fast, here's our guide on how Perks work in Apex Legends Mobile.

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