Time to bring everyone back up to speed with what Apex Legends is doing because while the rest of the world has chugged on trying to track down the imposter that’s among them… well, I think it’s really just been Kervyn and I that I have kept on playing. That’s not fair, Apex is still going strong but it’s certainly not the dominating force in the genre it used to be. Here’s hoping that the addition of crossplay reinvigorates the community slightly with the added incentive of a new limited-time event that’s adding in some really cool skins and heirloom weapons.
Okay, let’s get the easy stuff out of the way first. The limited time event is called the Aftermarket Collection and adds 24 new cosmetics into the game that are only available for a direct purchase with Apex Coins. Which is a big ol’ “Booooo” from me because those prices are still a little high and those items are really cool. That Caustic heirloom is so choice, it’ll hurt seeing that one locked behind a paywall. Fortunately, there’s also an event prize track with some exclusive cosmetics but none are as desirable, which is to be expected.
Flashpoint is also a new limited-time mode that basically dumps a series of massive orbs all over the map that when entered regenerate shields and health. So staying alive should be easier, if it weren’t for every other team having that exact same idea. Respawn says in the blog post update the Flashpoint is meant to, “bring the feeling of a team deathmatch to Apex Legends, complete with health regeneration that evokes some of our favorite classic first person shooters.” Sure, I can get down with some of those hijinks.
Now, the crossplay beta. That’s the real meat on this bone, so how is it working? The beta will offer players the full functionality of the crossplay system while Respawn monitors the rollout and listens to fan feedback. All supported platforms, so PS4, Xbox One and Origin (with Steam in the near future) will be able to play together. Crossplay is also the default setting for the game now, meaning you’ll have to opt out if you’d rather not jam with other platforms. To add friends on different platforms, all you need to do is select “Find Friends” and search a user name and it’ll pull up the player while displaying which platform they’re playing on.
And in case you were wondering, by default matchmaking will only pair up console players together while PC players will be left on their own. This is to make sure anybody playing on a controller is not facing against somebody using a more accurate mouse and keyboard setup. However, if a console player parties up with a friend on PC, matchmaking will then put everybody into a PC game. So you really have nobody but yourself to blame then.
It’s all pretty fair and simple stuff. The only weird thing is that, as Respawn notes, “Cross-play does not mean cross-progression”. Which is a little frustrating but Respawn also stated that they’re looking into adding the feature when Apex eventually launches on Steam. The crossplay beta and Aftermarket Collection launches on 6 October.
Last Updated: October 2, 2020
