Apex Legends: From Titanfall sequel to battle royale masterpiece

In the beginning, Apex Legends featured only eight Legends, each broadly embodying a class archetype—Gibraltar the tank, Bloodhound the scout, Lifeline the healer, and so on. Five years and 21 seasons later, the roster has swelled to a staggering 26 Legends, with the villainous trickster Alter the latest addition to the game.

Then there are the ever-evolving maps. From seismic landscape changes on Kings Canyon to hidden secrets and audio logs tucked into the nooks and crannies, Apex Legends both looks and feels dramatically different from the game that launched in 2019.

Apex Legends is set to arrive on the Epic Games Store on August 6. Ahead of its Epic Games Store debut, we chatted with Respawn Entertainment about the evolution of the hit battle royale game, from crafting engaging stories in a traditionally narrative-light genre to the challenges around making the game accessible to both new and returning players—especially when players have become astonishingly good at killing one another.

An unexpected trajectory

Apex Legends is now in its fifth year—a noteworthy accomplishment given that the battle royale genre is littered with the detritus of promising contenders, from The Culling to Fallout 76: Nuclear Winter. And while Apex Legends’ longevity is more than just a stroke of luck, its explosive success is also marked by its unexpected trajectory, starting with the game’s surprise announcement and launch in 2019.

As the meteoric growth of PUBG: Battlegrounds and Fortnite paved the way for the burgeoning battle royale genre, Respawn Entertainment looked to create a third Titanfall game based on the same formula—stumbling into what eventually became Apex Legends.

The team latched onto the idea of a squad-based battle royale, and it proved immensely popular. Within the first month of its launch, Apex Legends attracted 50 million players.

“Apex Legends is a battle royale—the battle royale is what we build and balance all of our weapons, our items in the game, and our characters in the game around,” says Lead Legend Designer Devan McGuire. “It's a squad-based game; the squad is what matters. No single character is the answer to every particular problem in the game. They're built and designed in such a way that they need others to fill in the holes that they leave behind.”

This core philosophy guided Apex Legends’ updates and evolution over the past five years, as Respawn molded the game into a dizzying battle royale/hero shooter hybrid. Guns and skills reign supreme, and Respawn has methodically increased the arsenal of weapons and attachments that players can wield.

"Other hero shooter games are character-centric—the character is defined by the weapon that they carry,” says McGuire. “The abilities that the characters have in Apex Legends are tactics that set up the opportunities for them to take advantage of those moments that let their gun skills shine, or to…rotate and create a good positional play that will give them an edge in the next encounter.”

Movement mechanics also play a key role in Apex Legends. Falling from a height, for instance, doesn’t result in damage—but it will momentarily reduce movement speed and delay drawing a weapon. More advanced players can even take advantage of landing from a skydive, boosting their speed by steering their descent right.

“We believe we have movement systems and gunplay that is unique to Apex Legends, and to elevate that experience, the Legends and their unique abilities come into play. This guides every Legend, gun, and gameplay system we create,” says Design Director Evan Nikolich.

 

Overhauls

Still, even though Apex Legends is five years old, Respawn isn’t wary about introducing massive changes to its established formula. In fact, McGuire believes this is a way the team can refresh the game for long-time players.

One of the biggest updates to Apex Legends arrived earlier this year with Season 20, in which the Legend Upgrade system replaced Evo Shields.

For years, players augmented their armor by picking up Evo Shields, lootable objects scattered around the map. Season 20 made it so players bolster their armor (now known as Legend Armor) by earning Evo points, such as by dealing damage, reviving teammates, or even opening supply bins.

This eliminated an element of luck, where players randomly stumbled upon Evo Shields to boost their armor. “Taking armor off ground loot and making it something you earn through combat has been a big change,” says Nikolich. “The upgrade trees for each of the Legends also offer further gameplay skill expressions and have given us the opportunity to give Legends a more unique feel.”

“It was a risk of a season," McGuire adds. "A season that did not launch with a Legend, and that also fundamentally changed how Apex Legends worked, with the armor changes and whatnot."

“The positive side is that it breathed new life into Apex Legends," McGuire continues. "It changed the game for players who felt that it was going kind of stagnant, introduced new factors for players and their characters, and offered a new way to approach and play the game that isn't the same as before."

Another notable change in Apex Legends (at least for McGuire) was the Olympus map in Season 7, plus the new features that were incorporated into the floating utopia, like the introduction of vehicles.

“People were getting a little bit fatigued with the two maps that we had,” says McGuire. “Olympus was such a breath of fresh air to the feeling and the flow of the game, and brought different styles of level design with it—plus there was Horizon and all the crazy tactics and overpowered fun that she pushed into the game at the time.”

 

Leveling the playing field

Since its inception, Respawn has made an extensive list of updates to Apex Legends. They've introduced game modes such as Ranked Leagues and Mixtapes (with some of these returning as Limited Time Modes). They've also added longer-term features, such as a crafting system that lets players gather materials and create loot.

Maps are also constantly updated with new environmental features, such as the early inclusion of leviathans—creatures that roam the landscapes in Apex Legends. Maps with unique features, like geysers and mobile armories, are introduced as seasons are launched.

And then there are the more foundational updates to the game, like the classification of Legends into five Classes in season 16, each with unique perks. These elaborate changes undoubtedly satiate the voracious appetite of veteran players, but they can be intimidating for new or inexperienced players to grapple with. Updates elevate the already-high skill ceiling in Apex Legends, introducing new mechanics for players to learn and master.

“When we first launched Apex Legends, one of the strengths of the game was that you could just load it up, go through the very simple tutorial, make sure you could move and shoot and pick up some ammo, and then just play. You're in the game, and you figure things out as you go,” says McGuire. “And part of the joy is the discovery. ‘Oh, this is the attachment that goes with this weapon, and this is how I can use these particular items, or this is what my abilities do.’”

“But because it's been around so long, that understanding and base knowledge of the game is so now high that coming into the game fresh—with all the rule changes that have happened and all of the new characters—means there are so many more factors that you need to understand about the game just to be able to pick up a weapon and shoot it for the first time, and not get yourself killed,” McGuire continues.

This trepidation is compounded by another factor: Apex Legends players themselves have, over the years, simply become devastatingly good at the game. It’s not uncommon for new players to amass death and failure in battle royale games, but dying becomes more than just a frustrating rite of passage in a squad-based game like Apex Legends. Feeling like you’re the weakest link in your team is immensely dispiriting.

Nikolich said that leveling the playing field and making the game more accessible are some of Respawn’s highest priorities for Apex Legends. “We know how good the core players have become, and we need to make a fun path for new players. I can't speak to specific plans, but we are working on matchmaking and iterating on several different aspects of the onboarding experience to go live over the next few seasons.”

“[We want] to allow new players to find a comfortable place to learn the skill, to lower that overall skill floor for players, to even the playing field at the lower end, [and] to make it a more comfortable place to get competitive, try out abilities, and discover things,” McGuire adds.

 

Injecting stories within battles

Of course, the cascade of updates over the years introduced more than just mechanical changes to Apex Legends. They affected the game’s overarching narrative as well. Set in the aftermath of Titanfall’s Frontier War, Apex Legends was originally about a televised bloodsport called the Apex Games, which was hosted on Kings Canyon.

Following several cataclysmic events, the Apex Games were eventually relocated to other maps such as World’s Edge and Olympus. These major milestones were usually accompanied by the arrival of new Legends who would compete in the Apex Games.

Such nuggets of lore were fed into Apex Legends in dribs and drabs, and the narrative team had to figure out how to do it along the way, transforming the map or integrating backstory into a character's design.

“We’ve tried different ways of bringing storytelling into a battle royale, because it's not really a formula that's been figured out by the industry. It’s still kind-of new to bring stuff like this in, without intruding on the core gameplay of a battle royale,” says Narrative Director Amanda Doiron. “It’s figuring out what are the things that make players more invested in this world and the characters and in the game.”

This same point was underscored by previous Narrative Director Manny Hagopian, who wrote about his initial apprehension when writing for Apex Legends as it first transitioned toward a battle royale game. After all, this is a genre where narrative typically comes second to combat, or is even seemingly thrown in as an afterthought.

To Hagopian's surprise, the Apex Legends team kept returning to him for ideas and suggestions on how the lore might inform other aspects of the game, from the characters to the maps.

“[Writing for Apex Legends] actually feels a bit more like a fighting game than a traditional first-person shooter in terms of like, ‘Here is our big cast of characters, choose your fighter,’ and that actually comes with a fair share of lore for each of the characters. So when we understood it in that way a little bit better, that was a big transformation from the initial idea of what this could be narratively,” says Narrative Lead Ashley Reed.

Walking the tightrope between game design and narrative is a common challenge for games. It's even more integral for Respawn and Apex Legends though, where Legends are at the center of the action. Every Legend needs to be imbued with a unique personality and a distinctive playstyle. Maintaining this distinction across every mode, map, and squad lineup is integral to the design of the Legends across each season.

“I’ve worked on every Legend since Horizon, and I think what has continued to work is understanding that design comes first,” says Doiron. For example, a villainous character who “just wants to see the world burn” isn’t going to fit into the healer archetype because that wouldn’t feel authentic.

“I wanted Alter, for instance, to be a clever, out-of-the-box thinker," Doiron continues, "and then we are like, ‘Okay, what fantasies work with that?’ We brainstormed 20 different power fantasies, and what we settled on was this devious trickster, archetype character.”

“I recall specifically working on Newcastle, on Jackson, taking ideas around where we took the fantasy of the character, and bringing those back into the expression of the way that he relayed his abilities,” McGuire adds. “His ultimate had many, many different forms before it took on the idea of [us leaning] into this knight style, this heroic protector thing, and turning that into the physical castle that he creates when he leaps in to shield his allies.”

 

Pushing the envelope of interactive storytelling

One of the more innovative narrative tools in Apex Legends is its dynamic dialog system, which sees the Legends bantering with one another in-game. Loba, for instance, openly flirts with the other Legends or quips bitterly when reviving Revenant, a Legend for whom she holds an intense enmity.

“I think our dynamic dialogue system is probably one of our most effective narrative features because it fully uses the systems that we have in play to tell the story, which has served us quite well for many seasons now,” says Reed.

Doiron also pointed out that such narrative decisions are motivated by the team focusing on writing character-centric stories in Apex Legends—an approach that’s largely unique to the game since there aren’t any non-player characters that players interact with (at least for now).

“We find that keeping everything centered around the Legends and their relationships, their motivations, and their unique personalities are just the type of storytelling that we think works best in our game—especially because the Legends are who you're with while you're playing the game,” says Doiron.

While the team had plenty of room to experiment with different narrative approaches, there were (and are) specific limitations that they had to work around.

“I think what’s very important is always remembering we are a video game first, and people come to play this game. We can be a part of that, but should not distract from that. There should be no point where it's like, ‘Oh, the story is happening. I'm putting my controller down. I'm going to go make a sandwich,’” says Reed. “At the same time, it's very easy to get into that mindset of, ‘What if I wrote five pages of Wraith’s innermost thoughts?’ Like I would love that…but that's not what people are here for.”

Season 4 saw Respawn push the boundaries of interactive storytelling outside the game itself, teasing Forge as the season’s upcoming Legend before revealing a memorable bait-and-switch.

Stemming from the team’s frustration with data miners leaking the subsequent season’s updates, Forge was created to misdirect miners after they'd leaked news about the original Legend, Revenant. Fake concept art and details of Forge’s kit—such as his supposed Pull Shot and Ground Slam maneuvers—were also leaked, much to the amusement of the Respawn team. Forge would eventually meet his bloody demise in the hands of Revenant, as revealed in the season’s “Up Close and Personal” trailer.

“It was also such a big tonal shift from the things that we had seen in the past,” McGuire said. Before this “everything was a little bit light-hearted and happy and goofy.”

“It was originally actually worse," says Reed. "For Forge’s death, we actually had to pull back. We tested the rating a little too hard. Revenant always tested the rating a little bit. So he’s our extreme."

 

Slowing the pace

The multi-faceted writing of Apex Legends may help immerse long-time players deeper into its dynamic universe, but diving into the game as a new Apex Legends player feels a bit like jumping into a television series mid-season. Things can get pretty confusing. Of course, there’s no need to possess an encyclopedic knowledge of Apex Legends character dynamics to pull off impressive headshots, but knowing what's happening can make the game more meaningful and impactful, especially for lore-obsessed sleuths.

“The more you're adding in—and with more Legends and more storylines—it has gotten to a point where, unless you're a real hardcore player, it's hard to track all of that stuff,” Doiron explains. “And so what we're looking at now is telling stories that still honor our Legends and allow people to know more about Apex Legends, but don't have such a high dependency on knowing all this past stuff. It can be something that you come into new, and you can appreciate and have a good lay of the land without all the baggage.”

Again, it's a fine balance between continuing to engage existing players without overwhelming new or returning players, and Respawn has returned to this discussion for several months now.

This is one reason, according to Reed, why Respawn has slowed down the release of new Legends that used to accompany each season. “Last year, when we came up with Maggie, people were like, ‘I'm so excited to play this character, but oh my god, another thing I have to learn how to do and how to combat. Please help me.’ So when even the players are like, ‘Stop releasing new content!’, we're like, ‘OK, maybe we'll slow this down a bit so you can get used to how those mechanics affect the game.”

 

Surviving live-service

Apex Legends still draws a substantial number of players, with the game seeing 18 million active monthly players as of late last year, according to EA’s earnings call. With so many fans to please, Respawn always has its ear to the ground listening for community feedback.

For instance, players have requested that updates include more gameplay “so that people have a new reason to come back, a reason to play the game, and a new experience that's fresh, even if it's only around for a limited time,” says McGuire. “We've since taken to heart that feedback and are pushing really hard on getting new events up and running.”

Then there’s the game’s highly requested solo mode, which was briefly introduced in Season 2 and then resurrected as a Limited Time Mode again in the latest season—with several additions, including auto-healing as a reward for kills and a unique Battle Sense feature that highlights nearby enemies within a 50-meter radius.

The key is to have these events offer a respite from the main battle royale stage and allow players to experience Apex Legends in another way. McGuire is quick to emphasize that these events are a way for players to try something new with their favorite Legends—and perhaps even flex their hard-earned skills in an entirely different setting.

Still, Respawn is fastidious about ditching concepts that don’t quite work. There’s little chance, for example, that Apex Legends will be permanently shaped into a melee-focused battle royale, with players hacking away at their opponents with katanas and giant axes. While Apex Legends did feature a Final Fantasy VII Rebirth event this past January, with Legends wielding Buster Swords against one another, it’s unlikely such battles will become a permanent fixture.

“We've experimented with melee in Apex Legends before, but it puts the focus in a very weird place where it's not on the gunplay. It's not letting weapons be king,” explains McGuire. “It's using auto-targeting systems and lunges that are very difficult to read and counter, which makes it problematic. But the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth event was super cool—and as a temporary event, that was a great thing for us to go after and try to shake up the experience, which makes for an interesting moment in time for the game.”

Plenty more features lay within the Apex Legends scrapyard of discarded ideas. That said, the team is largely hesitant to share what these are since some of them have occasionally been recycled and made their way back into the game. “Some of those ideas…we harvested their bits and put them in other places to make a stronger version,” says McGuire.

Apex Legends remains immensely popular, and it doesn’t show signs of slowing down, with future updates already planned for the upcoming seasons. What will these updates bring? Reed will only speak cryptically of a potential twist coming in Season 22 in August. “Next season, keep an eye out for something that may seem a little out of place and doesn't have an explanation…and then wonder, what could that be?” she laughs.

There are also upcoming changes to the battle pass structure set to take place in Season 22, with Respawn saying it will offer more value to players by reducing the time it takes to unlock high-end items.

You can add Apex Legends to your Epic Games Store wishlist today. Epic Games Store players will also get the Conduit Epic Bundle for free for a limited time.