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.
Work on Apex Legends began around late 2016, though the project remained a secret right up until its launch. The game's release in 2019 came as a surprise, as the game released suddenly without any prior marketing or official announcement. Until that point, it had been assumed that Respawn Entertainment was working on a third installment to the Titanfall franchise, the studio's previous major game, although a number of Titanfall characters do appear as minor characters or playable Legends.
Apex Legends received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its gameplay, progression system, and fusion of elements from various genres. Some considered it a worthy competitor to other battle royale games. Apex Legends surpassed 25 million players by the end of its first week, and 50 million within its first month. By April 2021, it had approximately 100 million players, making it one of the most played video games of all time by player count.
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.
Battle Royale
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.
All teams are then placed on an aircraft that passes over the game map. One player in each squad is the jumpmaster, selecting when the squad should skydive out of the aircraft and where to land with the concurrence of the other squad members. However, players are free to deviate from the squad's path.
Once on the ground, the squad can scavenge for weapons, armor, and other equipment that is scattered around buildings, or in crates randomly distributed around the map, while keeping an eye out for other squads. Apex Legends includes a nonverbal communication "ping system" which allows players to use their game controller to communicate to their squad certain directions, weapon locations, enemies, and suggested strategies. While the game offers movement options similar to other shooters, it includes some of the gameplay features of previous Titanfall games, such as the ability to climb over short walls, slide down inclined surfaces, and use zip-lines to traverse an area quickly.
Over time, the game's safe zone will reduce in size around a randomly-selected point on the map; players outside the safe zone take damage and may die if they do not reach the safe zone in time. This also confines squads to smaller spaces to force encounters. The last squad with any members left alive is crowned the "Apex Champions" of that match. Players who become knocked down in the course of a game can be revived by their squadmates. Should a player be killed completely, they can still be resurrected if their team member(s) collect their respawn banner, which appears at the place where they died, and bring it to one of several beacons on the island. The banner, however, must be collected within a time limit, before expiring and eliminating the player.
Mixtape Mixtape is a rotation of three modes: Team Deathmatch, Control and Gun Run. +ModePlayer countObjectiveTeam Deathmatch6 vs. 640 team killsControl9 vs. 9Capture and hold pointsGun Run1 squad vs. 3 squadsKills through a 25-weapon track
Limited-time modes In addition to the season contents, Apex Legends featured limited-time events. These events offered unique, limited-time cosmetics themed to the event (for example, in the case of the Holo-Day Bash, Christmas-themed outfits) that could be earned in-game. Events also provided unique limited-time game modes (such as shotguns and snipers only). Some events also introduced changes to the current season map with a new point of interest (known as a "Town Takeover"), which was themed around one of the legends.