Respawn continues to deliver on its promise of tri-monthly updates for Apex Legends today in the form of Season 5.
Officially titled Fortune’s Favor, the bumper content drop comes with all the same bells and whistles found in previous seasons, including a new Legend, weapon, map changes (Kings Canyon returns with a mysterious new location in place of Skull Town) and, of course, various under-the-hood tweaks which, if they perform as intended, should make your daily in-game routine much smoother than before.
Speaking of which, one of the latter will be sure to prompt immediate applause from fans both new and old. From now onwards, any match that a player leaves unexpectedly – either due to unintended disconnects or server issues – can now be rejoined. To do so, one need simply restart the game and enter the lobby screen. You’ll immediately be whisked straight back to your previous in-progress match to pick up where you left off.
Do note, however, that Respawn has taken various steps to ensure the feature isn’t abused by cheaters. First and foremost, any intentional game closures (i.e. dashboarding on console or alt-f4 on PC) will immediately bar you from re-entry. In addition to that, you only have a relatively small window in which to rejoin any match, with failure to do so in Ranked mode ultimately treating such situations as a loss, resulting in the usual deduction of points.
Finally, loss forgiveness will now only kick in when teammates have been fully removed from a match. In other words, if you decide to leave a game where teammates are eligible to reconnect, you will not be absolved of your loss, so be sure to think twice before hitting quit.
Love it? Hate it? Be sure to let us know what you make of the new system once you’ve had time to enjoy Apex Legends Season 5 via the usual place below!