Apex Legends is currently in the midst of its holiday seasonal event. From December 7 through December 28, Apex Legends players are able to once again play the Winter Express limited-time game mode. Yet with the return of Winter Express came the return of a nasty exploit carrying over from 2020. The exploit is allowing Apex Legends players using Loba to either earn free wins or otherwise ruin games for opponents, seemingly for little or no meaningful reward.
In the Winter Express game mode, teams are tasked with taking control of a train that travels along the edge of Apex Legends' map. Taking control of the holiday-themed train requires that player clear it of any opponents. As such, if an opposing player remains on the train, it's placed in a contested state and won't grant points to either team. All a player has to prevent another team from scoring or winning is stay on the train and not die. This exploit allows Loba players to do just that.
Loba players are using a glitch, the exact nature of which will be left unexplained, to move themselves into objects on the Winter Express. More specifically, there's a large shipping container on the train that can be glitched into by Loba. Once inside the container, they cannot be killed and move along with the train normally. By doing this, they cause the train to be constantly contested, preventing their opponents from scoring any further points.
Obviously, utilizing an exploit isn't a particularly efficient or intelligent plan. If Loba is stuck inside the train, they're not helping their team control the Winter Express and score points. All they can do is hope their team will win without them, or that their opponents will get bored and frustrated and leave the game. For some Apex Legends players, however, that's more enjoyable than playing the game.
What's particularly silly about the exploit is that winning games in Winter Express doesn't provide any special rewards. There are no Winter Express bonuses or collectibles. Winning doesn't even provide tracker progress. There is some XP gain for winning a match, but that seems a poor reward for a match that can extend will into overtime waiting for an opposing team to leave.
For Apex Legends players, it's a frustrating situation to deal with considering Winter Express is a genuinely enjoyable and fun experience. Yet bugs and exploits continue to make Winter Express an at-times problematic experience. Similar issues plagued the Apex Legends game mode in past years, too. With hope, Respawn can fix the problems before Winter Express arrives for 2022's holiday season.
Apex Legends is available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.