Apex Legends has been a prominent battle royale game this year, and is competing in a very saturated market. It has to contend with other BR games such as Fortnite, PUBG, and Black Ops as well as other less popular BR games. Ever since Fortnite came out, studios have been releasing their own BR games and many have been big misses, but Apex has stuck around and has had a strong following. However, to keep the bit of momentum they have and to keep players invested in the game for multiple years, Respawn needs to try to capitalize on these top 10 things to keep Apex alive.
Recently, Apex had a brand new map introduced called World’s Edge. The change in scenery was needed and helped spice up the flow of the game. In this new map, the verticality of everything has scaled up. There are some buildings that have four levels, there is a small city and even a train that travels around the map. This helps create unique fights against multiple other squads while still providing the option to dip out of a fight if need be. As long as they keep adding new maps and updating current maps, the environment should be diverse enough to keep the game interesting for many more years to come. Adding features such as different weather or day/night changes could also help do the trick. King’s Canyon, the original Apex map, is now featured in the new mode Shadowfall, and it is nighttime.
This past week we received a new limited-time mode in Apex called Shadowfall. This mode gave us a zombie mode essentially, and you drop in solo fighting off other legends at the same time. I won’t get into too much detail about this mode, but limited-timed events are a surefire way to get more players excited about your game. There will be players that don’t care too much for these events, but they help change up the standard BR mode they currently have. The events also come with unique skins and cosmetics, which may give players incentive to grind some of the challenges.
When the charge rifle was first introduced, players argued that it was overpowered. The weapon is literally a laser that packs an extra punch at the end of its charge. If you’re caught out in the open with someone using it against you, chances are you took quite a bit of damage. Personally, I think the charge rifle is very situational and lacks big time when you are fighting people who are peaking or are in close range. However, if there is a weapon or mechanic upsetting the fan base, they should address it to some degree. Respawn has adjusted the charge rifle, but people are still not satisfied. The best option here is to adjust as needed until the majority are happy with the result.
With many games these days, money is made through micro-transactions, such as buying cosmetics or battle passes. Battle passes allow players to unlock cosmetics as they play and progress through the game. But, is it really worth spending money on a free game to get these skins? The answer is yes, if they’re cool enough and you get your money’s worth. If you get to level 100 in the battle pass, you should have some pretty cool skins to show off. Apex has done a decent job so far of making their battle pass desirable, but they could up their game a bit too. Since they make all their money from these micro-transactions, they need to keep up with delivering quality skins so players feel like paying for skins is worth it. In the future, I think Apex will continue to have a worthy battle pass.
Hackers have been no stranger to plaguing the queues of Apex. Aim bot is used frequently in multiplayer games to boost apex ranks, but at times it seems like a ridiculous amount of these hackers are in Apex. There’s nothing worse than getting into a game, making it to the last couple of squads, and then getting shredded by a hacker. Not only that, but certain issues such as hit detection can be shotty here and there. For instance, it typically happens when using shotguns, and the range damage doesn’t make sense. I will say that many times you probably didn’t hit your shot as well as you thought. However, there are still times when you are ten meters from a player and only deal eleven damage with a full shot to the body. These are really just quality-of-life issues in the game, but ones that should be a no-brainer and should be remedied soon.
Many BR games have different game modes to choose from such as solos, duos, and squads, but why doesn’t Apex? Apex went a different route and started off with three-person squads. They tried solos for a bit, and many players didn’t enjoy it as much. In order to give Apex some variety, they should introduce a new game mode such as duos. It isn’t even a big change, but it would allow players to play with a friend and not have to worry about the third teammate being bad at the game. The mode doesn’t even have to be permanent, but longer than the typical limited-timed event. I would suggest having it open for season 4 of the game and keep it available all season.
It is no surprise that the game that has the most sponsorship and advertising attracts more players, at least initially. Apex needs to hit harder and get its marketing up. You see a game like Fortnite everywhere. Commercials, ads, merchandise, etc. but you don’t see a lot of Apex. I’m not saying to follow Fortnite as the example, but Epic is doing a good job of keeping Fortnite in the spotlight. Apex needs to branch out and get different people interested in the game, which is the only way to keep a game like this around. Since it’s free to play and a battle royale, it will most likely not have a sequel so it’s important to market for the long haul if they want to keep it alive.
Thus far in Apex’s career, the arsenal has been top notch and the new additions or changes have been enjoyable. There is variety in the guns, they are pretty balanced (except the charge rifle for some), and all have their pros and cons. As the game continues, I expect to see new weapons, grenades, attachments etc. slowly funnel in. I don’t want it to get too crazy or have them add tanks or something disruptive like that. The gunplay is great, and they don’t need fighting gimmicks right now. All they need is a steady stream of new gear here and there to keep it fresh.
My favorite part of Apex are the characters you get to choose from and how they can feed into your play style. Crypto was the latest character introduced to Apex, and gave players the ability to use a surveillance drone that was equipped with an EMP. Characters like these are potential game changers and have the potential to also mix up the meta. Any new characters coming to Apex will hopefully bring new play styles as well. I would like to see a new mobility character to provide alternatives to Pathfinder and Octane. They are due for introducing a new character like this since the past two have been more about support and defense.
Lately, Apex has done much better with having tournaments with highly skilled players. There are professional Apex players out there playing in tournaments, but I want to see it grow and expand into something massive. This feeds into one of my earlier points about getting more sponsorship and marketing. Hosting big events and tournaments where players can win prize money and compete against the best would be a great way to get people excited to play Apex, and bring in some new faces.
Apex needs to keep adding, adjusting, and inventing new ways of staying popular. Any of the 10 things a listed should help do that, and I think those at Respawn will do a great job of keeping it going.
According to a recent interview.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership will launch on November 7.
Reveals several rides, attractions, theme park buildings, and more.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is available now