Apex Legends has started gearing up for the release of season 8, which is just a couple of weeks away. To do so, it has released a new Stories from the Outlands trailer titled Good as Gold, which seemingly reveals the new character. What should be noted, though, is how Respawn Entertainment likes to tease, or troll, its audience from time to time. Right now, the character seen in the trailer seems like the character releasing in season 8, but Ashe seemed like a new character once and no one can forget when Revenant murdered Forge.
Regardless, this new Apex Legends character is named Fuse (though his real name is Wally). The trailer doesn't come right out and say it, instead leaving his name to the YouTube description, and based on datamined information, it all lines up. These stated that Fuse had an Australian does, which the man in the trailer does, and had abilities related to blowing stuff up, which makes sense. There are some fine details to be sorted, of course, but interestingly enough, this isn't the first EA property with a name like "Fuse." It's likely that Respawn Entertainment made the decision and not publisher EA, but it's interesting to note: there was once a failed EA game called Fuse.
Apex Legends vs. Fuse
Originally revealed as Overstrike, the rebranded Fuse was an Insomniac Games title that was published by EA back in 2013. While its reviews were mixed and some may feel the game was underrated, it ended up being a critical and commercial failure for Electronic Arts. Many seemed to note how it was surprising to see such a title come from Insomniac Games, but it happens—sometimes, developers fall short of expectation. That's okay, because Insomniac Games and EA moved on from the project to bigger and better things.
Fuse was a four-player co-op shooter where each character wielded "Fuse-powered" weapons. At the time, it drew comparisons to Resistance and Gears of War, meaning that the only comparison it can really ultimately draw to new character Fuse is the name, and name alone. Of course, again, EA probably had no role in selecting the name and has probably long-since forgotten about Fuse.
With the comparison ending there, it's worth mentioning that Fuse's name is seemingly more "basic" than that of the game. Fuse's name is seemingly derived from his abilities, which haven't been confirmed but have been datamined. While it remains to be seen what they are in-game, the datamined Apex Legends' character's tactical is an Airburst Grenade fired from his right forearm, while his ultimate is "the Motherlode," which fires a missile from his back and spreads flames across the ground. His passive has yet to be datamined or revealed, though it will likely tie into this theme. It would be interesting if it allowed him to turn basic grenades into stickies, carry more grenades than other characters, or perhaps take less damage from grenades/explosives like a Call of Duty Flak Jacket perk.
For now, time will tell how Fuse operates in Apex Legends and how he is received, but it seems likely that Respawn Entertainment's Fuse character will be better than EA's Fuse game.
Apex Legends is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with a Switch version in development.