Respawn Entertainment, developers of Apex Legends, revealed some of the Revenant abilities left on the cutting room floor for his Season 18 Rework, including wall-running and a 1v1 Ultimate.
Revenant, the “synthetic nightmare” formerly known as Kaleb Cross, had lost popularity leading up to the recent update. His pick rate had plummeted from earlier seasons, and Respawn needed to address it.
But, after Revenant “woke up with his abilities torn from him and replaced with new ones,” players have loved the Legend’s revamped gameplay in Season 18, as his pick rate skyrocketed.
The legend now brandishes an aggressive and individualistic playstyle, allowing engagement-hungry players to be a menace for other teams on the map – whether it’s from his passive that marks low-health enemies or his leap ability to surprise unsuspecting enemies.
However, getting him into a state that players were much happier with had its fair share of hurdles in development. Respawn’s devs opened up about some of the challenges with redesigning Revenant during a press conference.
Apex Legends devs tested various Revenant abilities
Developers at Respawn didn’t rush the Revenant rework for Apex Legends. They went through multiple iterations and options for each of his unique in-game capabilities – his passive, tactical and ultimate. Here are some of the scrapped ideas that didn’t make it to the live client.
Wall-running: Revenant has kept his improved wall climbing and crouch capabilities from last season with only minor adjustments to each, but there was a period where Respawn were testing out Titanfall-esque wall-running for him.
While players would have loved this, under rigorous testing, the developers of Apex Legends found that the ability was far too situational, and specifically mentioned that the maps in Apex simply don’t allow for that many wall-running opportunities, like Titanfall maps were designed for.
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As a result, wall-running was not “consistently useful,” and the idea was scrapped.
1v1 Ultimate: Revenant’s Ultimate provided some of the most interesting inspiration for the developers. Revenants signature totem almost crept into the rework, but the developers found that like before the rework, it was too situational, requiring the “perfect” scenario in terms of position and timing, to have great effect.
They also considered and designed a “1v1 Ultimate”. Revenant players would be able to to transport both themselves and an enemy into a “shadow realm” to duel in a straight-up 1v1.
But, developers found that the Revenant player, despite the unique nature of the ultimate, didn’t feel as though they got enough benefit from what should be their most powerful ability.
Ultimately, they settled on a low-health marking passive, synergistic “Shadow Pounce” tactical and the damage-blocking “Forged ultimate” – which pro and casual players have loved so far.
It remains to be seen where Revenant lands in the meta long-term with his new rework, but the early signs are positive.
