Apex Legends is a battle royale shooter game played from the first person, developed by Respawn Entertainment and Panic Button, and released in 2019. The game was an instant hit and reached 2.5 million active players a few days after release. Within the first week, it had 10 million active players, and just a month later, the number rose to 50 million active players. Many analysts consider the number of 70 million active players worldwide in October 2019 to be the peak of Apex Legends. Although the number obviously grew since then, the rate of growth slowed down considerably.
| Apex Legends | |
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| Developers |
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| Publisher | Electronic Arts |
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| Release Date | 04 February 2019 |
| Genre | Battle royale, First-Person Shooter |
| Mode | Multiplayer |
| Links | Review |
Gameplay
As you’ll see below, the gameplay mainly happens across three different maps named Kings Canyon, World’s Edge, and Olympus, released in that order. The premise of Apex Legends? One match consists of 60 players in total, split into 20 teams of 3 players or 30 teams of 2 players (Duo), also known as Squads.
Squads
Squads can be pre-assembled by entering the lobby, or a player queueing to be matched with 1 or 2 random players of a similar skill level. There are 16 different playable characters to choose from (as of Season 8). Those are Bangalore, Bloodhound, Caustic, Crypto, Fuse, Gibraltar, Lifeline, Horizon, Loba, Octane, Mirage, Rampart, Pathfinder, Revenant, Wrath, and Wattson.
Each character can only be taken once per squad. Also, the last squad member to lock the character becomes a Jumpmaster. Jumpmasters are squad leaders and will lead the team while they skydive from the aircraft, using pings to pin places on the map. This is crucial to survival because none of the characters have armor, weapons, or items at the start. For that reason, you must search for supplies, equipment, and weapons immediately, while dodging or engaging players who landed nearby.
Additionally, because characters are split into roles (damage dealer, support, tank), and have unique personalities, abilities, and design, the Squads should be assembled carefully. It’s also important to know that when damaged, players can be knocked down. This allows for limited movement and revival to health by another squad member. Those who are killed completely can still be resurrected if one of the squad members carries the banner from their body within a short time limit to one of the beacons on the map.
Safe zone and end-goal
Another obstacle to being the last team standing and winning the title of Apex Champions is the safe zone. It shrinks from a random point on the map as the match progresses, and forces players into encounters. Simultaneously, it adds an element of chaos and boosts the pacing of the gameplay. At the end of the match, Squads are awarded Legend tokens based on their performance, as well as Experience points that go toward leveling. Speaking of levels, according to official tweets, the Apex Legends level cap of 500 won’t be increased in Season 8.
FAQ
Yes, Apex Legends is free on all platforms from the very beginning. The 3 upcoming versions, set to release in mid-2021, should be free too.
Many have asked, “is Apex Legends a dead game?” We get why, and we mentioned initial numbers already. In 2020, the game had 120 million active monthly users and peaked at 24.8 million simultaneous players. So, how many Apex Legends players are there in 2021? We can’t say for sure. The video game on Steam alone had 71667 active users and peaked at 129.928 players per day in January. The numbers for February 2021 show a 32% increase in average players and a 44% increase in peak monthly players on Steam. Player number counters, which should be taken with a grain of salt, report a daily average of between 900,000 and 1.1 million concurrent players in February 2021 across all platforms.
There are 16 Legends as of Apex Legends Season 8.
From reading feedback, we would say Bloodhound is the best Apex Legends character in Season 8. Wraith, Gibraltar, and Horizon follow closely. Of course, you can master your favorite game character and play competitively regardless.
The Wraith skins named Airship Assassin and Flashpoint are likely the rarest Apex Legends skins. The first one came out within the first month of the launch when the Legend wasn’t as popular. The second rarely appears in the shop, costs 10,500 Legend tokens, and requires you to have the Vengeance Seeker skin. Generally, you can search for the rarest skins in the Legendary skins category.
No, you cannot transfer the progress from Xbox to PC. The accounts are linked to different services – Xbox Live (Xbox) and Steam/Origin (PC). If you asked, “Can I transfer my Apex Legends account from PS4 to PC” you’d get the same answer. That’s because the game is tied to your PlayStation Network account.
No, you cannot play Apex Legends on Mac, even though Origin and Steam run on Mac. On the other hand, you can install Windows 10 via dual boot (Boot Camp) and play it that way. Additionally, you can stream the game to a Mac computer via the cloud (Sony Remote Play, GeForce Now, etc.)
The official system requirements state you need at least 6 GB of RAM to play. However, there has been evidence of players running the game on 4GB of RAM in Season 6 and Season 7. However, the performance was choppy, and Apex Legends crashed from time to time, making it far from satisfactory.
You can find Heirloom Shards inside Apex Packs, earned during the level-up process or by paying with real money. You have a 1 in 500 chance of getting Shards from an Apex Pack. Also, the developers designed it so that you loot one when opening the 500th Pack. In the end, you can combine Heirloom Shards into an Heirloom by crafting.
