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The upcoming season of Apex Legends, Legacy, is set to add a new, permanent 3v3 game mode called Arenas.
Arenas is not a battle royale, but is instead a multi-round 3v3 mode with similarities to games like Valorant and Counter-Strike. Players fight on maps much smaller than those used for the battle royale, and have just one life per round to out-play the other team. Conclusive games can be over in three rounds, but a match can go as far as nine rounds and into sudden death if teams are unable to out-smart their opponents.
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While you will use the same weapons and characters as you do in the main Apex Legends battle royale mode, Arenas is a very different looking game type. For starters, there is no looting at all. Instead, a shopping phase before each round will allow players to purchase weapons, consumables, and upgrades. You can also purchase character abilities; to keep the characters balanced for this mode, you’ll have to buy charges of their tactical and ultimate abilities in this phase, rather than the battle royale’s cooldown system. Currency for the store is provided at the start of every round, with bonuses awarded for kills and wins, much like in other tactical PvP shooters. Player equipment is reset at the start of each round to prevent power snowballing and keep matches to a swift average of 15 minutes.
While there’s no classic-style looting, there are still equipment bins around the map that contain consumables, as well as currency pickups that will allow you to buy better gear in the next round. Additionally, a supply drop will land halfway through a round containing three weapons, the rarity of which will increase round by round.
Map design is much closer to traditional Apex Legends than the lanes of Counter-Strike; while much smaller than battle royale maps, they have stretches of open ground and named locations to fight over. The classic battle royale circle is also part of the mode, and staying inside it is a major part of a round’s momentum.
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When Arenas launches it will have two bespoke maps: Party Crasher, set on a ship that’s crashed into a downtown plaza, and Phaserunner, a more rural, open map with long sightlines. More maps are in development, but since they will take a while three more maps have been made using segments of the battle royale maps. These will be Artillery from Kings Canyon, Thermal Station from Worlds End, and Golden Garden from Olympus. The mode will launch with its two bespoke maps and Artillery, and add the other two maps in the following weeks.
Arenas could be the start of Apex Legends being a platform for other game modes beyond battle royal, too. “We’re pretty good shooter makers, so how can we offer that in other ways?” said Game Director Chad Grenier in an Q&A session with press. “So our first step has been in Arenas. We’ve got these other things we’re doing in playtests, where we’re trying to expand even further than that, so I think you’ll continue to see some innovations and some limited time modes, and us try a few things here and there. We do hope that Apex can be more than just a battle royale game.”
Apex Legends Legacy launches May 4, and adds a new character, Valkyrie, and a new weapon, the Bochek bow and arrow, too. Both this new character and weapon will be available in Arenas as well as the main battle royale mode.
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Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.