Copyright XDA Developers
It's hard to believe that we're already on Season 27 of Apex Legends, but that is the case. Respawn Entertainment and EA have shared a first look at the next season of the battle royale. It's titled Amped and will launch at 1 p.m. ET on November 4. You can obviously expect a new battle pass to become available on that date, but that's not all the new season has to offer.Ahead of Amped's reveal, EA shared a lot of details with me about what players can expect from the new season. I'm a lapsed Apex Legends player, so it has been a couple of years since I played regularly. That said, three new updates coming with this season may be enough to get me hooked on this battle royale again, even with Battlefield RedSec and more competition existing. One of the best Apex Legends maps is getting a massive redesign A new version of Olympus is coming Olympus was added to Apex Legends around the time I was playing the game the most, so I have some fond memories playing tense matches on this map. That's why I'm excited to hear it's getting a full-on refresh as part of Season 27, which should make it more entertaining to play on again.It adds four new points of interest to the map: Somers University, Gravity Engine, Stabilizer, and Dockyard. The map has also been redesigned so there aren't as many wide-open spaces to get picked off in. The lore rationale for the map update is that this new version of Olympus mysteriously traveled back in time, and the Apex Games moved there after "instability" at the original Olympus."We've focused on transforming the open areas of Olympus into exciting new POIs that reward skillful play and resolving problematic rotations with terrain reworks and minor POIs," senior level designer Michael Shannon explained in comments provided to XDA. I really want to see how these new points of interest change up the feel of playing a game on Olympus, so I can't wait to check it out. I'm looking forward to playing as these three Legends again Horizon, Rampart, and Valkyrie are all some of my favorite Legends to play as whenever I pick up Apex Legends. That's why I was happy to see they will all be getting gameplay updates this season. Horizon's Gravity Lift tactical ability will now have a shorter cooldown, her Black Hole ultimate ability has more health, and it will feel better gliding through the air or quickly fast-falling while playing as her.Rampart's improvements focus on her Amped Cover tactical ability, boosting it with bonus health and even a roof as the player's Evo level increases. You'll also have infinite ammo and faster reloads when shooting through Amped Cover. In comments provided to XDA, Legend designer Ian Holstead says these buffs change Rampart from "a statistic defender to a springboard to help her squad push."Finally, Valkyrie's buffs focus on speeding up her gameplay. Her VTOL Jets passive will now fire and recharge faster, and her Skyward Dive ultimate ability will also have a shorter start-up. Valkyrie's Missle Swarm tactical ability will also no longer damage her, among other benefits. Holsted explains that these changes are being made to make this Legend "feel dangerous in motion again." Wildcard is getting some exciting new twists The Supersonic event will also give players a reason to try it out Wildcard is an Apex Legends mode introduced earlier this year that reduces some of the restrictions and complexities of the main battle royale mode. It's getting some updates during Season 27, which line up with a "Supersonic Event" in the mode from November 18 to December 16.Wildcard will benefit from the Olympus rework, as a modified version of that map will become the second Wildcard map. The mode will also get a new Mythic R-99 weapon and new craftable wildcards called Burning Rubber, Extra Zippy, Eyes in the Sky, The Quick and the Dead, Get Up and Go, and Along for the Slide.I haven't played Apex Legends since Wildcard was added, but all these updates have made me curious enough to jump in once the Supersonic Event starts. There will be event-specific progression that rewards players with Supersonic event packs and Apex packs. I wouldn't be surprised if Wildcard quickly becomes my new favorite mode in the game.
