There’s no shortage of good games to play in 2019. If you’re into character actions games, Devil May Cry 5 or Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice might strike your fancy. Feeling more cooperative? There’s Anthem and Tom Clancy’s The Division 2. Want to be scared? How about the Resident Evil 2 remake?
So, why do you just keep playing Apex Legends?
OK, so the answer to that might be clear. Apex Legends is a free-to-play battle royale first-person shooter from Respawn Entertainment, the minds behind the Titanfall franchise and the talent behind the revolutionary Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2.
If the clout and genre (thanks, Fortnite) don’t hook you on their own, there’s the fact that the game released in a completed state. There’s no early access asterisks or anything here. Apex Legends learned from the success of Fortnite, Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds and even a bit of Overwatch, while learning from the failure of games like The Culling and Radical Heights.
In a lot of ways, it’s a companion game to what’s come before it, adding a dash of cutting edge game design and a layer of polished gunplay, movement and progression.
Its success continues to stun. The game broke records in the weeks following its release. A month under its belt, Apex Legends topped 50 million players across PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
Put simply, Apex Legends is simple. Not in a meta sense, because the game’s many legend characters take skill and training to master, but in a barrier to entry sense.
Because it’s free, it’s not asking a lot of its players. A $60 AAA game like The Division 2 or Anthem demands players' time and money on a regular basis. Tap out for a few weeks? You miss out on public events or limited items, and you feel pressured because of that initial buy-in.
Even single-player-focused games like Devil May Cry 5 or Resident Evil 2 ask their players to get immersed in their worlds, and they’re fantastic in their own right, but when you have to manage a playerbase including everyone from a working class parent to a teenager who just wants to play with their friends, Apex Legends is an easier choice and an easier sell.
Matches in Apex Legends take little to no time at all to jump into. If you’ve only got 30 minutes to play, you can hop in and run through a match aggressively. Looking for a longer session? Hop into voice chat and talk to your teammates about strategy. There’s even an intelligent “ping” system that allows you to telegraph movements, highlight items and weapons or signal enemies, all without saying a word.
It also doesn’t suffer from a lack of lore or character development. Apex Legends is set in the world of Titanfall, so there’s already a built-in universe to explore. It also has a diverse cast of well-introduced characters, from the quick and witty Mirage to the brooding Wraith. These characters talk to each other during matches and bring immense amounts of character in their banners, finisher moves and ultimates.
On top of all of that, the game just feels good to play. Sure, there’s always a level of frustration to come from jumping into five games only to be wiped in the first few moments, but each one of those is a learning experience.
Chances are, there’s a legend that works with your playstyle, whether you want to zip around the map with a grapple as Pathfinder or hunker down and guard your team as Gibraltar. The gameplay is fast and fluid and easy to get the hang of.
Of course, Apex Legends isn’t without fault. Early game balance issues have turned some players off entire characters. Cheaters on PC can sometimes feel like they’re running rampant. Even the game’s Battle Pass system, which costs about $10, leaving a lot to be desired.
But remember where we talked about pressure? There isn’t that pressure in Apex Legends because of that low barrier to entry. Sure, you may be peeved if you dropped ten bucks on the Battle Pass and the rewards aren’t so great and the progression may be slow. But with a very vocal and active development team, changes can be discussed and player frustration can be quelled.
It’s not a perfect system, and fixes might not come as fast as in a game like Fortnite, but there’s effort here -- and that’s worth sticking to when the game launched in a solid state to begin with.
This isn’t to say that other games shouldn’t be played. Every one of the games mentioned earlier deserve their day in the sun, but when it all comes down to it, it’s more likely you’ll return to the world of Apex Legends for a few rounds than drop 100 hours into another shared-world shooter.
And, hey, that’s OK.