Ludography
75/100
Players665 ratings
88/100
Critics11 reviews

Where to get it

Apex Legends cover

2019 · Respawn Entertainment · First-person shooter · Shooter

Apex Legends

Conquer with character in Apex Legends, a free-to-play Hero shooter where legendary characters with powerful abilities team up to battle for fame & fortune on the fringes of the Frontier.

Released
4 February 2019
Platforms
Nintendo SwitchNintendo Switch 2PlayStation 4PlayStation 5WindowsXbox OneXbox Series X/S
Genres
First-person shooterShooterTactical
Developers
Respawn Entertainment
Publishers
Electronic Arts
Modes
Battle royaleCo-opMultiplayer
Perspective
First person
Themes
ActionScience fiction
Engine
Source

About

Apex Legends is a 2019 battle royale-hero shooter video game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts, set in the same science fiction universe as Respawn's Titanfall series. It is offered free-to-play and is continuously updated under the games as a service model; the game was originally released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in February 2019 and was followed by versions for Nintendo Switch in 2021 and both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2022, and Nintendo Switch 2 in 2025. All versions support cross-platform multiplayer. A mobile version designed for touchscreens was briefly available until its discontinuation in 2023.

Before the match, players form into 1 to 4-player squads and select from pre-designed characters with distinct abilities, known as "Legends". The game has multiple gameplay modes - with a range of team sizes. The battle royale mode hosts up to 20 three-person squads or 15 two-person duos. In "Arenas", players form into three-player squads and fight against another squad in a 3v3 team deathmatch over a series of rounds to determine the winner of the match. Teams win when their team has at least 3 points and is 2 points ahead.

›Story

A WORLD WHERE ANYTHING GOES

The Frontier War is over. After hundreds of years of conflict between the Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation and the Militia founded to fight them, the far-off region of space known as the Frontier can finally know peace.

But liberation can come at a cost: when the IMC and the Militia departed, they took everything of value and left the Frontier worlds in disarray. With no way to support themselves, the people of the Frontier had no choice but to leave their homes. The brave relocated to the Outlands.

A remote cluster of planets on the fringes of the Frontier, the Outlands are untouched by war and teeming with resources and opportunity. But life is cheap here, and danger lurks around every corner. Its pioneers, explorers, and outlaws used to spend their lives locked in an endless power struggle – now, they settle their differences in the Apex Games, a bloodsport where Legends from all corners of the Frontier compete for money, fame, and glory.

Keywords

  • thief
  • comics
  • squad based
  • crafting
  • pvp
  • soldier
  • robots
  • androids
  • doctor
  • female protagonist
  • achievements
  • wall climbing

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Apex Legends is an online multiplayer battle royale game featuring squads of three players using pre-made characters with distinctive abilities, called "Legends", similar to those of hero shooters. Alternate modes have been introduced allowing for up to four-player squads since the game's release. The game is free-to-play and monetized through microtransactions and loot boxes, which allow the player to spend both real money and in-game currency on cosmetic items, such as outfits for the Legends and new colors for weapons. Each character in the squad has a unique design, personality, and abilities that provide different playstyles to the team. Starting with Season 16, each legend is assigned to one of the five unique class styles: Assault, Skirmisher, Recon, Controller and Support.

Each match generally features twenty teams of three-player squads. Players can join friends in a squad or can be matched randomly with other players. Before the match, each player on the squad selects one of the 25 playable characters (as of season 19), with the exception that no character may be selected more than once by a squad.

Development

Developer Respawn Entertainment had previously developed Titanfall (2014) and its sequel Titanfall 2 (2016), both of which were published by Electronic Arts (EA) who eventually acquired Respawn Entertainment in 2017.

According to design director Mackey McCandlish, initial design on Apex Legends started before Titanfall 2 had shipped in 2016 and as of 2018 the entire Titanfall team at Respawn Entertainment was working on the project; however, executive producer Drew McCoy stated that work on the game did not begin until the spring of 2017. He also confirmed that the game had approximately 115 developers working on it, making it the studio's most labor-intensive project. Titanfall 2, by way of comparison, had around 85 developers.

Reception

Apex Legends received "generally favorable" reviews for most platforms according to review aggregator website Metacritic; the Nintendo Switch version received "mixed or average" reviews. Some publications, including Destructoid, Game Informer, GamesRadar+, and PC Gamer, called it one of the best takes on the battle royale genre thus far, and a worthy challenger to Fortnite Battle Royale's dominance of the genre.

Critics lauded the combat in Apex Legends. Destructoid referred to the gunplay as the best they had experienced in a battle royale thus far; however, they felt let down that some of the mechanics from the previous Titanfall games were not present. Javy Gwaltney of Game Informer, on the other hand, claimed that the omission of the Titans and other elements from previous Respawn games was not a problem and found the combat to be satisfying and the gunplay powerful. He added that the addition of heroes can make for more exciting combat than in other battle royale games.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Windows4 February 2019Worldwide
PlayStation 44 February 2019Worldwide
Xbox One4 February 2019Worldwide
Nintendo Switch9 March 2021Worldwide
Xbox Series X/S29 March 2022Worldwide
PlayStation 529 March 2022Worldwide
Nintendo Switch 25 August 2025Worldwide

Editions and related releases

Downloadable content
Apex Legends: Mirage EditionApex Legends: Lifeline and Bloodhound Double PackApex Legends: Lifeline EditionApex Legends: Bloodhound EditionApex Legends: Octane EditionApex Legends: Loba EditionApex Legends: Gibraltar Edition

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Collections17 collections

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.