The newest playable character headed to Apex Legends has quite literally crash-landed into King's Canyon as part of the final reveal for Season 8. Fuse, an Australian-sounding chap first introduced to Apex players in the Good as Gold story trailer a few days ago, is an explosive champion packing a huge rocket launcher as a finishing move. He hails from Salvo, a fringe planet rumored to be centered on explosions. After some political maneuvering, the planet is joining a more civilized society, and Fuse is joining the Apex Games as part of the ceremony. He's arriving on February 2 alongside Apex Legends Season 8 - Mayhem.
The latest season of Apex Legends corresponds with the second anniversary of Respawn Entertainment's battle royale, and the game has grown significantly since 2019. Regular season drops have expanded out the roster of Legends to fifteen competitors, with Fuse soon to keep the growth going. There are three maps regularly in rotation along with several unique game modes that occasionally pop up and favorite weapons added in from the Titanfall series. There aren't any giant mechs to pilot, but the latest map did add a three-man vehicle to the proceedings, which is one step towards that elusive goal.
As for what players can expect with Fuse and Season 8, they got a quick taste with the new Mayhem Launch Trailer released this week. It depicts Fuse arriving at King's Canyon only to be interrupted by Maggie, his fellow mercenary as depicted in the Good as Gold story trailer. She turns the weapons of Fuse's ship against him, firing into the crowd gathered to see his debut and forcing him to overload the vessel and run for his life. The ship crashes into the canyon, which should foreshadow changes coming to the King's Canyon map in Season 8.
Gameplay-wise, Fuse's ultimate is a large scale rocket launcher, and his tactical option is a projectile grenade, although the exact details of both abilities are still under wraps for now. Besides the new hero and the new map, Season 8 will also bring a new weapon to the proceedings, the 30-30 Repeater. This is a lever-action rifle, so it will be an excellent sniping assistant with the help of proper scope and other add-ons. Season 8 will also debut a new battle pass as one might expect, so current players are encouraged to get their games in before early February to grab those final few levels and say goodbye to King's Canyon as they know it.
Although it's not pulling in characters from across the multiverse or merging with another uber-popular shooter, Apex Legends is providing a great niche between the cartoon fun of Fortnite and the serious-minded Warzone when it comes to battle royale. Respawn Entertainment's talent when it comes to both gameplay design and map design (and its refusal to crunch its employees during development) really comes to the forefront when exploring all three areas currently in the game, and it will be interesting to see how the new Repeater feels and what new strategies emerge in the remixed King's Canyon early next month.
Source: Apex Legends/YouTube