Apex Legends Season 9 is adding a new game mode and character

Apex Legends is entering Season 9 with two big changes: a round-based 3v3 mode and a new character.

Oscar-winning developer Respawn Entertainment launched Apex Legends exclusively as a battle royale but that’s about to change in Season 9, which is branded as Apex Legends: Legacy. Legacy will be permanently adding a 3v3 gameplay mode called Arenas.

The mechanics are familiar enough to anyone who’s played round-based shooters such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Rainbow Six: Siege. At the beginning of each round, you buy your respective loadouts with materials which you can earn more of throughout the match. You only get one life per round and the objective is simple: kill the other team before they kill you.

Along with the upcoming Arena mode is a new legend, Valkyrie. Long-time fans of Respawn Entertainment games are particularly excited about this new character because Valkyrie is both a thematic and mechanical throwback to the beloved Titanfall series, a cult classic action game featuring Call of Duty style shooting, parkour and mechas.

Apex Legends is a sort of pseudo-sequel to Titanfall. It takes place in the same universe as Titanfall, set decades after the events of Titanfall 2, but plays very differently. The game got rid of Titanfall’s iconic parkour and titans (the aforementioned mechas) since Respawn deemed it too messy for a battle royale game.

As a character, Valkyrie is the closest link to the two franchises to date. In Valkyrie’s story trailer, it’s revealed that she’s the daughter of Viper, a titan pilot and famed member of the Apex Predators mercenary group. During the events of Titanfall 2, IMC soldier Jack Cooper kills Viper in a titan duel.

Valkyrie tracks down Kuben Blisk, the former leader of the Apex Predators and creator of the Apex Games, the grand tournament which is the basis of Apex Legends. After recovering her father’s helmet, Valkyrie salvages the pieces of her father’s Northstar titan to forge a personal suit of armor to use in the Apex Games.

Reddit with abuzz with the news, which was received positively among fans of the game.

“This game does not stop being fresh,” one Reddit user wrote.

“They just went above and beyond with this season,” another user wrote. “While in warzone, they took more than a year to facelift a map, while in apex every season has updated or new map.”

“This opens up a WHOLE NEW POSSIBILITY for awesome 3v3 tournaments on high level play,” yet another user wrote. “I’M SO HYPED FOR THIS. SKINS ARE LIT TOO.”

Apex Legends is available on PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Switch for free. Apex Legends: Legacy (or Season 9) will be launching on May 4.

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If you liked this piece, check out Call of Duty: Warzone revamping its default battle royale map as Verdansk ’84.

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