'Apex Legends' Goes 'Beyond Battle Royale' With New Arena Mode

Season 8 of “Apex Legends” is nearly at its end, with a little less than two weeks left before Mayhem officially concludes. This season introduced Fuse, the 30-30 Repeater and a remade King’s Canyon, and while all of these are significant changes in the game, the upcoming “Legacy” update is dead set on being even bigger.

In a recently released cinematic trailer, Respawn Entertainment teased some of the upcoming additions to the newest season of “Apex Legends,” including Valkyrie, the game’s first bow weapon and some snippets of new locations. What’s most exciting, however, is the new “Arena” mode that was teased at the end of the trailer.

There isn’t much information to go around as of late, but the name alone brings heavy implications. The new season has so far stayed true to its “Legacy” subtitle, with a few characters from “Titanfall 2” having been reintroduced to the “Apex Legends’” lore. Some fans are assuming that the new Arena mode might be an homage to an old “Titanfall 2” game mode called Coliseum.

Coliseum was a duel mode that pitted one pilot against another. Each pilot would be equipped with the same loadout to emphasize that the match was focused on skill and not a weapon difference. The first pilot to score three kills would win the game.

With “Apex Legends Legacy’s” apparent focus on bridging the gap between “Titanfall” and the current “Apex Legends” storyline, the upcoming mode might be a modernized and more refined version of Coliseum. The cinematic trailer did end with “Beyond Battle Royale” plastered on the screen, possibly hinting that “Apex Legends” will soon have new game modes beyond the standard BR experience, but nothing is set in stone yet.

“Apex Legends” wasn’t particularly revolutionary in terms of how the battle royale genre is played, but it did offer a refreshing new way on how the genre is played thanks to its emphasis on high mobility, squadplay and contextual communication. Players will have to wait and see if the new season will introduce new ways to play the game or simply make every other existing system better than they currently are.

A gameplay trailer for “Apex Legends Legacy” is due to release on April 26, while the new season is slated to launch on the first week of May.