One Respawn dev explained why players shouldn’t get too excited about the Shadow abilities featured in Apex Legend’s new Halloween LTM, since there are no plans to put them in the game proper.
Apex’s popular Fight or Fright event is back, and there’s a brand new mode called Shadow Royale that brings players back from the dead as in the Shadowfall mode from 2019, except in your regular BR format.
Teammates return as shades after dying as long as one member of their squad is still alive. Shadows only have 30 health and can’t use weapons, but move 30 percent faster and respawn after being killed.
They can also wall-run and double jump, but after one user on Reddit suggested these last two would be cool to see on a future Legend, Respawn dev Daniel Klein revealed “it’s very unlikely” we’ll ever see that happen.
“I’d say it’s very unlikely we’d ever put wall running and double jumping on a full Legend,” Klein wrote. “We had a lot more leeway with Shadows because they don’t have guns and it’s not important to chase them down (because they respawn when you kill them anyway).”
The dev referred to these as “sugar high” abilities, which can be very fun, but can decrease replayability when they’re used as permanent features. Ironically, he used Titanfall – which did have a wall-run mechanic – as an example.
“Anecdotally, people absolutely loved the constant sugar high of Titanfall multiplayer, but then also very quickly burned out on it,” the dev noted. “Sure, some players stuck with it for a very long time, but on average it’s the kind of game you play and absolutely love for a few weeks and then you’re kind of done.”
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“TLDR: Wallrunning and double jumping are sugar rush mechanics that are good in small doses, in LTMs, and in asymmetric combat situations,” Klein wrote, wrapping things up. “It’s very unlikely they’ll come to Apex proper.
If you read through the entire argument, he does make a solid case for why wall-running and double jumping won’t be coming to an actual Legend, since those kinds of abilities don’t really fit with the game’s core.
If you do want to roll around the map like something straight out of Overwatch as a Shadow, be sure to check out the new LTM during the 2020 Fight or Fright event happening October 22 through November 3.
