In the ever-growing realm of battle royales, Apex Legends currently sits at the top. Not in terms of viewership or popularity, perhaps, but where the core gameplay is concerned? It’s got the competition beat. In truth, that’s hardly surprising. With past claims to fame being Titanfall and its sequel, the folks at Respawn clearly have an intuition for what does and doesn’t work in an FPS, but in this genre, a solid gameplay loop isn’t enough.
Management clarified its stance on post-launch content as part of a revealing blog post last week, in turn reaffirming its commitment to the months-old title, but will that be enough? Unlike the continued onslaught of weekly updates Epic Games pushes out for Fortnite (a process that takes its toll), the developer is taking what it believes to be a more considered approach with its own roadmap. From the viewpoint of some players, however, what’s presently available in-game doesn’t represent a complete product, giving hardcore audiences little reason to stick around.
For streamers in particular, who regularly spend the equivalent of a working day playing a single title, Apex Legends is comparable more to a demo, rather than a complete title. That’s the view that Twitch streamer DrDisrespect holds, at least. In response to a viewer question asking why they no longer play Respawn’s shooter, DrDisrepect answers: “It’s a lot of fun, but it feels like an incomplete product. We’ve been given one map – it’s almost like a demo, that’s what it feels like.”
The influencer continues on to reiterate that, while he enjoys the ‘demo,’ playing for extended periods of time just isn’t feasible due to the aforementioned lack of content. Given Apex Legends‘ current state of play, DrDisrespect’s stance is justified, but how does Respawn go about providing a remedy?
More characters, weapons, maps and modes would be a good start. Thankfully, Apex Legends‘ creators appear to be on the same wavelength, having promised at least some of those to come in the near future. Stay tuned.