Apex Legends players were hit with a shocking announcement yesterday. In a brand new Stories from the Outlands animated short entitled "Up Close and Personal" Respawn killed off Forge, the character who was heavily rumored to be the next Legend added to the roster. Instead, it is looking like the next character added to Apex could be Forge's killer Revenant.
This reveal has some major implications for season 4 of Apex Legends and its community. There is potential for multiple new Legends to be added over the course of the next couple months in addition to all the already announced changes that are being implemented when the season goes live on February 4. Most importantly, this short shows that things are not what they seem in the world of Apex and that developer Respawn Entertainment still has a few tricks up its sleeve to keep the narrative and the gameplay meta fresh.
To give some narrative context to the these events for fans who don't follow Apex outside of just playing the game, Forge is Apex Games' first corporate-sponsored competitor. Sponsored by Hammond Robotics, Forge (real name: James McCormick) was previously a five-time Hyperfighting Federation champion who is now translating his skills to the Apex Games. He specializes in melee attacks and physical damage, which would be a radical departure from the current cast of characters. From what we know about Forge, he sounds a bit like Doomfist from Overwatch. Or at least that is a comparison that has already been thrown around a bunch by fans.
Who is Revenant?
Revenant is a completely different type of character. First officially in the limited-time Fight or Fright game mode, Revenant is a simulacrum, the Titanfall and Apex universe's name for robotic Titan pilots that are created using copies of human pilots' memories and personalities. The name Revenant was discovered by dataminers who found the name tied to the Fight or Fright announcements before the launch of LTM. Recently, a wallpaper image of Revenant leaked from EA's website, and now, they have been shown in the latest animation short that throws the future of Apex Legends up into the air. Where it will land, no one quite knows yet.
The biggest question Apex fans are asking is whether or not Forge is dead and if this means he will be in the game, or if this whole announcement cycle was a ruse. Or perhaps Forge is secretly alive and players are going to get two new Legends in the latest update. One of the pieces of leaked information concerning Forge is that he is "often imitated." Some fans online have noted that in "Stories from the Outlands" Forge has a scar on his left eyebrow that is absent in all the other leaked artwork that has been seen thus far. This may just be a final touch that the leaked artwork didn't have due to being in an unfinished state, or it could very well be that Revenant killed one of Forge's imitators.
These theories seem likely, and a great way to use narrative to tease out a potential game mechanic for Forge. Crucially, the conflict between these two characters, as well as the recent leaks, strongly suggest that both will be added as the next two Legends. This could lead to Assimilation being focused on the rivalry between Forge and Revenant and even introduce a faction element where players have to choose sides in a greater meta conflict. There is a ton of potential here for Apex Legends to keep getting weirder, and frankly more interesting, with its meta-narrative layer.
These theories are also backed up by a change Respawn has confirmed for the season 4 of Apex Legends. In the upcoming season, ranked mode is going to be split into two sections. The first half of series 3 of Ranked will have players continue to fight it out on World's Edge, the map introduced in season 3. The second half of the ranked season will bring back King's Canyon into the mix. It is easy to see how this hard split could be a great time to introduce a world altering narrative event that could bring a new character to the game. The only question left now is: who is first?
There's reason to suspect Forge, who has been strongly suggested as the next Apex character for the past couple weeks, will be the the Legend that is added on February 4, when Assimilation begins. On the other hand, if he truly is dead, the game could surprise add Revenant and wait to bring Forge back in some clever way in a couple months. Either way, it is exciting for Apex Legends fans that this season seems to be taking yet another departure from the formula and that the game is taking strides to make major changes with each season.
Apex Legends is out now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Season 4: Assimilation begins on February 4.