Newcomer Sparrow may be the star ofApex Legendsseason 25, also dubbed Prodigy, but he’s far and away from the only thing coming to season 25. With changes to the weapon meta, the return ofArenas, and more, season 25 is coming out strong with even more updates on the way.
Game Rant recently attended a presentation ofApex Legendsseason 25 ahead of its release, and afterward, we spoke with design director Evan Nikolich, lead BR designer Eric Canavese, lead modes designer Clement Bachellerie, lead level designer Steve Young, and principal designer Bilal Arshad about what to expect this season. The devs also seemed to tease a few things coming later this season, as Nikolich said the team would be promoting “more ‘prodigy’ legends” as they lean into that concept this season.The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Maps and Movement
Q: The maps on rotation are Storm Point, World’s Edge, and Olympus. Should players expect many updates to these maps, and generally speaking, what’s the team’s mindset right now in regard to Apex Legends' map selection?
Young: We love thediversity of mapsthat we have to offer, and we also recognize that some of these locales have been experienced by individual players for hundreds, if not thousands of hours. We’re actively looking at ways to evolve any of our existing maps in significant and meaningful ways that will appeal to both our hardcore fans and, hopefully, new players as well. The short answer is, players should expect impactful updates to legacy maps plus gameplay evolutions to some maps that haven’t been touched in a while. We’re also looking into unique rotations that we could offer players based on the wide range of maps at our disposal for future seasons.
Q: During the presentation, there was a little bit of discussion on Apex Legends as a movement shooter, incorporating counter-movement, etc. I’ve always loved how Apex Legends gamifies this sense of momentum, so I wanted to ask how does the natural speed and moment of Apex factor into seasonal updates? How much of a hand does it play in all seasonal decisions?
Nikolich: An important learning coming out of last season ismovement and aggression is what makes Apex awesome and unique. We have seen that with how much Ash has been embraced. We need to keep leaning into movement and aggression across the game and, in turn, provide interesting counterplay against it. If it’s all movement all the time, then we risk becoming stale. We are asking ourselves how we can create fun movement and create fun ways to counter legends like Ash, Wraith, and so forth. We will be working on this season over season.
The Return of Arenas
Q: With Arenas' return, this will be the first time that some Legends, weapons, and changes like TTK will factor in. Can you talk about any challenges or perhaps unanticipated realizations you had when looking at how these factored into Arenas?
Bachellerie: We were excited to have Arenas with a fresh breath of content and were curious about how it would feel in that game mode. Overall, we’ve been very happy with how much recentlegends like Alter, Ballistic, Conduit, and Sparrow bring to the game and renew the experience. A similar point applies to the weapon, especially Akimbo, which has become a favorite among the team in internal playtests. Ballistic was maybe slightly more challenging because of the third weapon slot and its behavior with the store, but nothing we couldn’t solve.
Q: Apex Legends has, for lack of a better word, been a little less “precious” over party size for a while now, 1v1 Arenas being an example. But I was curious, overall, how that mental shift now plays into decisions like 1v1 Arenas?
Bachellerie: It’s true that Apex has seen more variation around party size recently, especially last year withSolo and Quads. In the case of 1v1 Arenas, it’s been more about the core experience and function within the Apex ecosystem. On top of the fact that it’s an LTM supporting two Events in 25.1, we feel it’s a very fun warm-up mode before jumping to BRs matches. Checking those two dimensions, fun and warm-up, is sometimes a challenge, so we’re excited to launch this experience and see how the community will react!
The Weapon Meta
Q: During the presentation, you mentioned doing a lot of “experimentation with the Bocek” in regard to the frags/explosive arrows. I was wondering if you could discuss what this period of experimentation looked like? How did the team settle on the version coming next season?
Canavese:Great question! We tried a variety of things like the arrows detonating on impact without a delay and different damage profiles like the explosion being 100% of a shot’s damage. We also tried completely different grenade types like the arc star that would slow targets or chain lightning to groups of enemies. Ultimately, the explosive arrows just won out as a clear and exciting gameplay fantasy that was easy to understand and intuitive to use.
A: The Bocek’s ammo economy is also quite different from what players would normally encounter from ground loot and, as mentioned, is more in line with a crate weapon. I was curious then how the Bocek affects the overall loot pool, if at all? Like since it does not take ammo from the standard ammo pool, does that mean there’s more for other weapons or did it seem to fit in naturally?
Canavese:That’s an interesting question! The addition of the bow definitely changes up the ammo economy, and the more people that run the bow means even less ammo to be found in deathboxes when you’re resupplying. However, we’ve tried to provide enough ways for players to mitigate ammo concerns through systems like the replicator andArsenals—and if all else fails, the bow itself can help alleviate running dry on traditional ammo by coming with its own!
Q: Meta-wise, what are your hopes with the weapon changes this season?
Canavese: We’re hoping that players gravitate to some of our longer-ranged weaponry this season to compliment our new andexciting Legend Sparrow! In addition to some baseline buffs, our marksmans and snipers are getting a number of other strong additions like Skullpiercers and the Gold Sniper Stock, which allows players to move at full speed with their long-ranged weapons drawn.
Ranked + More ‘Prodigy’ Legends
Q: Among the Ranked Changes is the introduction of this ladder. Did anything specifically inspire this system?
Arshad: Our team is full of highly competitive players who love ranked and are always excited by the thrill ofwatching ALGS. We wanted to bring that sense of competition to every player, regardless of skill level. By creating ladders tailored to your skill level, we believe this will enhance the sense of competition and motivate players to strive for the top.
Q: I know the Apex team has been very transparent with Ranked changes and similar things for a while now. The fanbase certainly appreciates it, but I was also curious if this transparency has also had any proven benefits for the team?
Arshad: Short answer - Yes! Long answer, we love the two-way dialogue. The feedback we get from our blog posts, AMAs goes directly into our design conversations as we look to take Ranked play forward. Players can expect to see more of that transparent communication and experimentation in the coming months around Ranked.
Q: Overall, what would you say is the “guiding light” for this new season of Apex Legends?
Nikolich: The name Prodigy is something we are leaning into. Sparrow being the face of the season, being a prodigy amongst the legends. Leaning into that further by bringing theBocek to floor, as Sparrow is the bow legend. And bringing back Arenas, a team vs team showcase. Flex your skill in an intense arena experience. And we have more “prodigy” legends we will be promoting later in the season, but we will be keeping that close to our chest.
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