New Apex Legends season borrows from Fortnite OG and goes back to 2019

Apex Legends From The Rift is officially Season 23 of the battle royale, as Respawn takes the Fortnite OG approach and goes back in time.

Apex Legends is going back to where it all started. Just like how Fortnite OG whisked the battle royale game back to Chapter 1, Respawn Entertainment’s spin on the genre is about to do something very similar. The team has teased Season 23, called From The Rift, and it is heavily focused on returning to where Apex Legends all began.

Time is a flat circle. At some point, everything old is new again. Apex Legends is the latest battle royale game to enter the nostalgia mine, and that means we’re heading back to 2019.

“Go original and experience the beginning of Apex Legends. Again,” Respawn writes. “Relive the first drop in Launch Royale with original legends, weapons, and more. Charge your loadout with overcranked weapons and abilities from Rift Relics. Get active with Lifeline, revived with new abilities. Sharpen your arsenal with the Raptor’s Claw universal melee cosmetic.”

Launch Royale is a new game mode taking us back to the original Kings Canyon. It includes all the old-school weapons, Legends, and loot – that means no EVO armor or ability upgrades. Then there’s Lifeline Revived, bringing the OG medic back into the fray with the ability to teleport DOC to allies and deploy an indestructible forcefield.

The map will also sometimes get a Rift Relic, signified by a cosmic portal packed with overpowered weapons and boost kits.

It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time Apex Legends has gone back to some of its OG material. In 2021’s Season 9, the Genesis Collection Event reintroduced some of the original maps including the Kings Canyon and World’s Edge, which took over standard trios and duoes queues.

Apex Legends Season 23 From the Rift goes live on Tuesday November 5.

If you fancy revisiting EA’s battle royale game, we’ve got a breakdown of all the Apex Legends characters and their abilities alongside some other multiplayer games if you want something different.

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