Electronic Arts has officially taken the wraps off of Respawn's new game: Apex Legends, a battle royale shooter set in the world of Titanfall. It's free to play, and you can play it right now via Origin.
Apex didn't exactly come as a surprise, as the reveal was leaked before today's livestream. Now you can download it and try it for yourself.
Unlike most battle royales, Apex Legends will not support solo or duo play. Instead, 60 players do battle in squads of three, with characters chosen from a roster of unique Overwatch-style heroes, each with his or her own passive, active, and ultimate abilities. Coordinating with your squad is a big deal—in another break from battle royale norms, you'll actually be able to bring dead teammates back to life at some risky respawn stations scattered throughout the map.
Despite the setting, there are no titans in Apex Legends. And while player are highly mobile, the more extreme examples of Titanfall's Pilot mobility, like double-jumping and wall-running, are absent. Some weapons will be familiar to Titanfall fans, but the gunplay has some added depth thanks to new ballistics modeling that means you'll have to adjust your aim to lead targets or compensate for distance. The team behind Apex Legends is the same team that developed Respawn's acclaimed Titanfall 2
Wes recently spent several hours playing Apex Legends, and came away optimistic: It doesn't reinvent battle royale, but "the setting is cool, the map's cooler, and no other battle royale has first-person shooting this good or as deep a focus on team play." Read our in-depth hands-on here, and check out our guide to Apex Legends' launch characters and a breakdown of its F2P cosmetic microtransactions.
