The battle royale genre is alive and well today often thanks to the innovation brought to the ever-changing genre thanks to its heavy hitters. The latest comes way of Fortnite, and it's an interesting feature that should make its way into Apex Legends. Before moving forward, it's worth mentioning the two games have been adapting, innovating, and utilizing each other's concepts practically since the inception of Apex Legends.
When it first arrived on the scene, Apex made waves for including a ping system that improved upon non-verbal communication and squad tactics. The respawn system was also well-met, and eventually, both systems were found in Fortnite. As such, it's only natural for the system to continue to evolve, change, and adapt ideas from one another, and this time around, Apex should pay attention to the new Fortnite season 2 Battle Pass.
Fortnite Battle Pass: Ghost or Shadow
Fortnite players must choose sides this season, and it's a choice with potentially long-lasting effects on the season's story, as well as the skins earned this season. This Fortnite season features the Agency heavily, with this spy theme branching off into two subsections: Ghost or Shadow. While players on each side effectively earn the same skin, the skin's overall look changes based on this decision.
For example, the base skin for Brutus looks like a typical beefy special Agent. However, a Ghost Brutus adopts a fully white suit with a unique mask, whereas a Shadow Brutus has a dark suit with a skull-like mask and bones detailed into his suit. This means, based on choices, two players can use the same skin but show off two different styles in Fortnite.
There's an argument to be made here that some players could miss out on potential skins, which would likely be worsened in Apex Legends, but the choice, the bragging rights, and the allegiance concepts are something unique enough to counteract that.
Apex Legends Battle Pass: Hammond Robotics or ???
Apex Legends has made several improvements to its Battle Pass from season to season, but arguably, one department that it can still make some adjustments to is its skins. The way the skins are divided over the Battle Pass each season make them less about bragging rights than the completion badges, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the last skin on Apex Legends' Season 4 Battle Pass is a rare Caustic skin as opposed to the legendary Wattson skin.
This method would be, at least, one way to bring in that allegiance and bragging factor. What's more, Apex Legends already has a baseline for this type of choice in play. The newest character, Revenant, killed Forge (supposedly) and has a real issue with Hammond Robotics. Loba seems to be chasing Revenant for revenge, something likely hinted at by the Ghost dog running around Apex Legends. A choice between Hammond Robotics or another faction would be a great way to introduce these new skins, and moving forward, there's the Syndicate and its opposition that could be a big factor one season.
In this way, when players unlock a certain skin for a particular character, it's one way or the other. Perhaps this would sometimes have to be choosing between a skin for one character or a skin for another, based on the Legends' backgrounds, but there's where the rule of cool factor could come in. It would keep the number of skins per season the same but offer players a choice based on an allegiance, whether or not that fully made sense or could play a role in defining individual characters. A dedicated or rogue Bangalore based on what she learns of her brother would be a good example. Either way, it's an interesting concept for a battle royale game, and one Apex Legends would do well to incorporate eventually.
Apex Legends is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
