Respawn Entertainment rolled out the next major update for Apex Legends this week in the form of Season 8: Mayhem.
As longtime players will no doubt be accustomed to by now, the refresh brings with it a 100-level Battle Pass to rank up in, sweeping changes to the OG Kings Canyon map, meta-changing weapons and, of course, a new Legend: Fuse. While his Aussie accent is unmistakable, the explosives expert actually hails from the planet of Salvage and boasts a suite of equally bombastic abilities appealing to anyone who likes to make an attention-drawing entrance.
While much of Apex‘s cast serve as an analogue to real-world locations and peoples, however, Respawn also isn’t averse to recognizing real-world organizations and events, too, including Black History Month. The annual observance takes place throughout February in the US (dates vary wildly between counties) and anyone wishing to do so can celebrate the occasion with a new cosmetic badge added with Mayhem, which is available to all players for free and can be seen down below.
Announcing the freebie, the game’s official Twitter reads: “In celebration of Black History Month, we’re granting all players a Black Lives Matter badge. It’s a small reminder that we must always stand in solidarity with our Black colleagues, partners, family, friends, & players in the fight against racism and social injustice.” Unfortunately, and depressingly expectantly, a vocal minority has subsequently flooded the post with bigoted remarks, including the tired and ignorant “all lives matter,” which at least serves as a reminder for why public shows of support such as these are still necessary. No end date on availability for this welcome badge has been provided, so we can only assume it’s here to stay.
Apex Legends Season 8 is available now on all platforms and runs until May.
