Apex Legends’ Voidwalker event landed yesterday. And with a new event, comes a new limited-time mode (LTM). Armed and Dangerous pare the weapon selection down to only snipers and shotguns. Yep, it’s own little version of Shotty Snipers. Respawn also decided to make armor shields damn near impossible to find. That makes Lifeline a must-have Legend, if you make past it past the first landing zone.
A new location (Singh Labs) turns into an enjoyable mess from the get-go. Everyone (including me) always wants to see what the new spot is like. The remnants of a facility we saw in Wraith’s short also has a portal extending high above it.
I just wrapped up a match where my team joined what had to be ten others as we piled into the portal.
As soon as I exited the other side, I found out why so many folks chose Caustic. It’s not every day you see five Caustics tossing gas canisters everywhere. Luckily, I managed to slide out of there while everyone else was choking on gas. I managed a couple of quick, easy kills after snagging a G7 Scout. But the lack of armor shields made me a quick kill when I turned the corner and took the full blast of a Peacekeeper shotgun. And that’s how a lot of my matches are playing out. I managed one win, but every other match was over before it really got started.
Respawn’s decision to limit armor shields here also works. The stakes in the early-to-mid game are as high as they get. A well-placed headshot or shotgun blast instantly takes you out of the fight. It also helps a solo player turn the tables on a stacked team. I was on the receiving end of that when a Gibraltar managed to tear through my entire team with a shotgun.
Armed and Dangerous is the perfect kind of LTM. It’s a fun shakeup of the traditional gameplay loop Apex Legends is known for. In this case, it amps up the already high stakes we expect. But it’s also not a mode I would see myself playing all the time like the solo mode (which sadly was also an LTM).
I’m curious to see how these LTMs evolve in the months ahead. Will it continue to only be tweaks to existing gameplay? Or, will Respawn finally get around to adding Titans? Ok, so Titans probably wouldn’t work on Apex Legends’ map, but it did get me thinking about another robot in the Titanfall franchise. Reapers.
They’re automated in Titanfall 2, but Respawn could come up with an excuse to make them pilotable. Plus, they’re not so big that regular guns couldn’t take them down. And a recent leak points to the Charge Rifle coming to the game. Sure, it could one-shot pilots – but it was designed primarily as an anti-Titan weapon.
Reapers are also small enough to get around Kings Canyon. Yeah, they wouldn’t be able to enter buildings – but they could make it through all the caves and canyons. Reapers would give us that taste of Titanfall without the incredibly overpowered Titans.
<h2>New patch brings quality of life changes</h2>
A new patch also came alongside the Voidwalker event. And in it, are a handful of small but welcome quality of life changes.
- Added Auto Sprint feature to all platforms that can be turned on or off. This is disabled by default and can be changed in the Settings menu.
- Players can now adjust Aim Down Sight look sensitivity per optic zoom level.
Head over here to read the full patch notes.
The Voidwalker event wraps up on September 17th.