Apex Legends is five years old, do you still care?

Apex Legends is approaching its fifth birthday. Do you still feel ancient? Launched by Respawn Entertainment in the midst of the battle royale craze, the game strips a different sense of action and skill expression from the bones of the Titanfall IP and lends it to an emerging sub-genre. It is considered one of the best FPS games. But five years later, do you still care?

This is a question every live gamer must ask from time to time, especially as their go-to games change and evolve from their original evergreen months. Apex Legends, like countless games before it, is a far cry from the refreshing games we played in 2019. The legend pool has been expanded, along with the number of maps, weapons, and cosmetics. Even Apex Legends, which has the same core, has grown into a new beast in its own right.

For one, it’s harder to get into now than it used to be, purely because the skill level is higher. This isn’t an issue unique to Apex Legends by any means, but it can burden new players’ experience. “At some point, I (like several other gamers I know) suffered from some kind of PTSD from Apex,” 34-year-old gamer IDCh wrote to me over the weekend. “When you’re simply not prepared to accept the chance of wasting 4 hours of your evening as a ‘robot’ for more experienced players.

“This game is hard. I mean, if we judge by the posts from 2-3 years ago and the posts now, they are somewhat the same. But I feel like the age of new players (already counting) because of the tutorial videos Experienced in thousands of hours) other FPS competitive games), overall skill level – [the] Today’s games are no longer casual games. ”

Indeed, in the five years since Apex’s release, the game’s competitive community has flourished. Not only does it have a huge network of streamers and content creators working hard day in and day out, but it also has a popular esports scene. This makes sense given the emphasis on teamwork and smooth movement. For many avid gamers, the continued evolution of Apex Legends is likely the main reason they stick with it.

But for others, it’s not all about the grind of ranking. “I play mixtape game mode,” IDCh explains. “To me, they’re more fun than Battle Royale, where I can spend up to 2-3 hours a day playing games without feeling bad about dying or losing.”

While Respawn Entertainment was initially hesitant to add a permanent version of the limited-time game mode, it eventually caved and offered a concrete path to risk-free fun. That’s fine, you do want to get out of the experimental mode space and just hang out casually. For this reason, Apex Legends has largely avoided the skill-based matchmaking of other shooters like Call of Duty.

With the current glaring exception of Final Fantasy 7: Doomsword’s Revanent, which puts players in a difficult situation, the game is relatively well balanced. It still looks good, and the map visually refreshes frequently enough to keep things interesting. If you’re a long-time Apex fan, th is is a great game for you and worth diving into every now and then. This is not something that can be left out in the cold after five years! Many games fail horribly in a short period of time.

The problem with Apex Legends, at least in terms of player retention, stems from keeping new players interested. Five years doesn’t seem like a long time in the scheme of things in the world of live services, but with new games coming out every year, staying relevant is an uphill battle. Why would new players choose to join Apex Legends instead of Grand Finals? Of course, these games have their own unique appeal, but there’s probably a larger community of new players for you to play against.

But how do you feel about Apex? Let us know below and what you’d like to see from the game before starting again.