Apex Legends Season 22 “Shockwave” developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts is scheduled to launch at 3 am on August 7^th. MKAU Gaming, however, was privileged to receive an early invitation to the digital event where the developers spoke about the upcoming changes, plus having hands-on gameplay of those changes.

One of those changes was how new and old returning players can integrate more smoothly into the Apex Legends experience, and who better to send than someone who has never played a second of Apex Legends? Yes, my fellow gamers I am that person, I am not unfamiliar with Apex Legends or the Battle Royal Hero Shooters genre, but since they are not my type of game this is the perfect gauge to see if Apex Legends can win me over.

Since many factors are uncontrollable with a matchmaking system, Apex Legends Season 22 “Shockwave” is tweaking the queue time. The idea is to give the system more time to search for players of equivalent skill, so the game remains fair and challenging. This is a fine balancing act as extending queuing times means less playtime and still runs the risk at the end of that timer having you dropped into a game with players that will outmatch you.

Unaware of how long the timers were before I did not find the wait times too egregious and didn’t my opponents too overpowered. In saying that though what needs to be kept in mind is the player pool would be smaller during the preview period.

Furthermore, to queue times is the addition of a Welcome Pass, Welcome Challenges, and BOT Royale. The Welcome Pass and Welcome Challenges are a great addition for new players as they will help not only teach them the fundamentals of Apex Legends but offer rewards that will also help foster their growth with Apex Legends. Bot Royale is by far the most important addition for new and old returning players of Apex Legends.

This game mode allows you to play against bots (with your friends if desired), to not only learn the game but use it as a training room, essentially doubling as a tutorial. For new players like me, this was a very welcome addition to Apex Legends.

Now this is where I will apologise to all you veteran players if I fail to mention something you’re dying to know about in Apex Legends Season 22 “Shockwave”. As a new player, I have no prior experience to draw from if a change is significant or not, so I will cover what I believe you will want to know, otherwise, you will have to wait until the release of the patch notes.

First off, the Battle Pass, with much controversy over its most recent change to its monetisation and rewards, the development team have adjusted the levels required on its premium tier. Instead of the 110 levels, it has now been reduced to 60 levels with the mindset of with the rewards on offer will be more likely wanted as previously a lot of the rewards were not being utilised. Personally, this does not sound like a solution to the player’s issues with the Battle Pass system.

Cheating has also always been a major thorn in the side of competitive gaming. Currently, nothing is being added to Apex Legends to combat this, but they are continuing to monitor and take corrective action against players who cheat. The development team are working on a better anti-cheat system which will be implemented in the future.

Let’s move on to the meaty stuff that Apex Legends Season 22 “Shockwave” will be delivering on release.

Suotamo is a new location in the E-District, this eastern-inspired district has a cyberpunk feel with a neon glow. This densely packed urban setting offers a multi-level playground to fight in making for tense cat-and-mouse skirmishes. As verticality is important here a new type of launch pad has been added that will give players the ability to move quickly both vertically and horizontally. For those lore followers, you will also find plenty to unpack in the environment as well as it relates to Titanfall.

Akimbo is here, you will now be able to dual-wield some weapons. The best news is the mirroring they’ve added allowing you to not have to double up on attachments as the added weapon will copy the same as the primary weapon. As more weapons mean more ammunition the magazine size and ammunition economy have been raised for most weapons.

Loot bin resets at the midgame point have also been added to assist with the Akimbo change as well. Inclusive of the reset, gold bins with better-than-average loot and a new mythic bin will appear. The mythic bin will be tagged on the map for all to see and opening it will take longer than normal. Playing well into the risk versus reward of Apex Legends.

Light Machine Guns (LMGs) and Shotguns have also gotten a change. LMGs now come with a shield generator that will give you 40 shield points. When the shield points are expended, a short timer will start as the generator recharges and when finished you will get 40 shield points again. Shotguns have had their damage increased but with a reduction of pellets and a change to the spread pattern.

Mantling and climbing have also been tweaked and the development team are positive that doing these actions with your teammates will now work as intended. The final piece of meat is the new “Battle Sense” that has been added. “Battle Sense” will highlight enemies at close range when aiming down sights allowing better accuracy in the fight.

Greater ranges will not highlight the enemy still requiring skill in getting those accurate hits. Hit point bars will also be added as part of “Battle Sense” so you can get a better idea of damage output on an enemy, also removing the dreaded question of if that was a one-hit kill.

Lastly, an existing game mode has been tweaked and a new game mode has been added. The tweaked game mode is “Ranked Rumble”, this game mode will now take the best 10 games you have played. So now you can play to your heart’s content until you have your best 10 performances locked in that you’re proud of. The new game mode is “Revival”, this game mode is perfect for newbies like me. Respawning is faster and easier in “Revival” because if a team member is alive, they can reduce their respawn time by doing damage to enemies. This also heightens the tension as teammates and enemies alike can respawn for those all-important comebacks.

All in all, I was impressed by my very first outing with Apex Legends. Whether through all the controversy it is enough to keep veterans playing is up to the individual. I now understand why Apex Legends is one of the popular Battle Royales on the market, and with the game mechanics and modes added to assist new players and old players with an entry point, I believe the Apex Legends Season 22 “Shockwave” is a great place to start or return to the game.

Written by: Ashley Barnett-Cosgrove