Apex Legends launched strongly in 2019 and has continued to improve over the following 3 years. Therefore, the game has also become a real hit for Studio Respawn and publisher EA. MeinMMO editor Jürgen Horn agrees, who is looking forward to the next season like a small child.
Apex Legends came out of nowhere on February 4, 2019, and I still remember that day well. Back then, it was said, “Jürgen, you play PUBG and Fortnite, why don’t you check out the new battle royale from the creators of Titanfall?”
I jumped into the game right after work and already knew back then that “this will be my new favorite game.” From that point on, PUBG and Fortnite became uninteresting. It just lacked something when you had no pings, no heroes, no respawn beacons, and no jump teams.
Even when other games adopted some of these mechanics, Apex Legends was always the original where all these features fit together perfectly.
In the 3 years since its release, Apex Legends has continuously evolved, which is why it is still found in the top games of the battle royale genre.
But what makes Apex Legends so good that it still rocks hard in 2022?
Why Apex Legends is so good
The name Apex Legends is indeed a program, because already at launch, the game was so to speak the “Apex” (Latin for “summit”) of battle royale development. The developers took everything that was great in BR games and developed it constructively and consistently. Here are a few examples:
Jump Teams: An important aspect of BR games is that you jump out of a plane unarmed together with other players and then quickly search for equipment on the ground. It’s annoying when teammates jump off in different places despite prior discussion and land scattered all over the map. In Apex, you always jump together as a team, and unless you deliberately drop out, everyone lands at the spot chosen by the “Jumpmaster.”
Pings: Communication is essential in BR games, but not everyone wants to interact live via voice chat, and typing in the text chat is not advisable during the heat of battle. In Apex Legends, for the first time, you could “ping” locations, items, and enemies, quickly informing the team where to find something or where enemies have been spotted.
Respawn Beacons: Battle royale games derive a large part of their tension from the fact that after your death, you are permanently eliminated from the game. It’s frustrating if you’re unlucky at the beginning and your teammates have to continue playing outnumbered, likely knowing they will lose.
In Apex, however, you can pick up the banner of a fallen teammate and respawn them at a fixed respawn station at any time. This way, with good teamwork, you always have a chance to turn things around, without losing a vital aspect of BR games.
Most of these features have now been adopted by other BR games and even further developed, showing the tremendous influence Apex Legends has had on the entire genre.
Add to that an excellent mix of gunplay, movement, and the special skills of the individual legends. The gunplay also comes from the feedback top shooter guy shroud provided back in the day.
In Apex Legends, everything simply fits. The gameplay flow is pleasantly smooth but not as hectic as in Hyper Scape or as leisurely as in PUBG. Only Warzone comes close to the gameplay feel, but suffers from an overwhelming array of weapons and other issues.
Therefore, Apex Legends was also the top alternative for many BR fans who eventually grew tired of Warzone and migrated in droves. Even people who generally didn’t like Apex Legends, like Dr Disrespect, had to grudgingly admit that it is a good game.
Why Apex Legends will still dominate the genre in 2022
Even though Apex Legends has faced its problems and difficulties, it has consistently and constructively evolved over the past 3 years. Now, in addition to the battle royale mode, there is also a much faster arena mode.
Additionally, Season 12 introduced a completely new mode called Control, which is somewhat akin to Domination from Call of Duty. In this mode, which offers infinite respawns, newcomers can optimally test the peculiarities of the game and gunplay. Thus, Apex is becoming even more of a universal shooter franchise that appeals to fans of all shooter sub-genres – not just battle royale.
As Apex Legends – thanks to admittedly quite expensive microtransactions – regularly generates substantial revenue for publisher EA, Apex will continue to be well-supported and positively mentioned in quarterly reports.
Therefore, the developers will likely have sufficient resources in the coming year to develop new content for Apex Legends. There should at least be another map, more modes, and plenty of new legends and weapons, as well as upgrades.
That the weapons will become inflationary is also ruled out, as Apex Legends places a few superior weapons into special care packages each season, which appear very rarely in the game. Therefore, even with plenty of new weapons, the basic pool of firearms remains manageable.
In the past 30 days (as of January 27, 2022), Apex Legends alone on Steam (via Steamcharts) averaged a quarter of a million players online. However, since it is also played on consoles and via the EA launcher, the actual number should be much higher. If the developers continue to ride this wave of success, nothing stands in the way of Apex Legends’ success in 2022.
Conclusion – What I still wish for
All the aspects mentioned above make Apex Legends even in 2022 the ultimate battle royale game for me. However, the game could still be improved, for example, with a co-op mode.
Apex Legends is increasingly moving away from being a pure battle royale. There were already special events with PvE co-op segments where specific missions had to be completed. I would like something like that as a permanent game mode.
Or a story mode where the narrative is told not just in comics, but also in gameplay sequences.
Because Apex Legends has a fantastic backstory and each of the legends has a complex background. When I think about it, that would even be the perfect basis for a TV series in the style of Arcane. If Apex Legends continues to be successful, I can imagine something like that well.
Jürgen Horn
Editor at MeinMMO
But enough of my ramblings. What do you like about Apex Legends? Or do you see it differently and have your problems with the game? Let us know in the comments!
