Apex Legends is something new and refreshing, checking all of the boxes of recent trends. It’s battle royale, complete with the descent from the sky, emphasis on scavenging for loot, and shrinking playable area. It features eight characters called Legends with unique ability sets built for teamwork. It comes free-to-play, including weapon skins, emotes, and even the much-anticipated loot boxes. None of those borrowed ideas say originality on their own, but here they come together as something totally new thanks to a roster of personable Legends, a single large and complicated map, and a smart approach to its three-person squads. Add great gunplay, a unique communication system and Apex Legends has come onto the scene as one of the most addicting and entertaining battle royale games.

Apex Legends is relatively small scale. Twenty teams of three compete in a last team standing competition on a shrinking, sci-fi-infused map. The varied Legends you choose from add new challenges to the battle royale format and further place the focus on playing as a team. The eight options each have their own neat tactical, passive, and chargeable ultimate abilities that can come in handy at times. The Legend abilities can save your squad or get you out of a tricky situation, but like other battle royale games, Apex Legends is all about the loot.