As Apex Legends continues to suffer from frustrating server issues and severe graphical bugs, yet another problem with the game is resurfacing in its fast-paced discourse. Unlike the recent frustrations, however, player concern with melee combat goes all the way back to the game's launch and has gone unaddressed for years.
The combat of Apex Legends primarily revolves around skilled gunplay and fast movement but, as with any modern FPS, melee plays an important role in close-quarters encounters. Apex Legends takes a strange approach to melee when compared to its predecessor Titanfall 2, opting for much slower attacks and longer recovery times.
Some players have taken to the Apex Legends subreddit to voice their concerns with the game, with one clip showing how easily melee can lock onto an enemy seemingly far out of range. A short video uploaded by user LWF1shburne shows a combat encounter ending with a jump-kick that locked onto the enemy and did not disengage even when the enemy hid behind a rock. While Apex Legends features characters with advanced movement capabilities, many players in the replies to the post agree that the melee mechanics are flawed.
Apex Legends is a game mainly balanced around its guns and movement. The melee mechanics tie into the movement in some ways, such as grappling a player with Pathfinder to get close enough for a punch. However, the melee itself does not have as much depth to it as the other mechanics, and its relative inconsistency leaves it unreliable in the eyes of players. For a game's melee to be viable, it must work consistently and be powerful enough to use in a close combat situation.
Core gameplay balancing is a major concern in Apex Legends, but the developers are also hard at work fixing other problems. The issues are at the point where some players are calling for a Rainbow Six Siege-style "Operation Lifeline", though such an event could bring problems of its own. Rainbow Six Siege's Operation Health is generally seen as a low point in the game's history and heavily leaned into a marketing angle of fixing a game players had already bought into.
The balancing of Apex Legends has long been a topic of debate with players. The game has a massive fanbase that is constantly suggesting new features and Legends that they think would improve the experience, many of which have genuine thought put into them. With all of the issues plaguing the game recently, however, it may take a while before the concerns are properly addressed.
Apex Legends is available now for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.