Ahead of the launch of Apex Legends Season 26: Showdown, developer Respawn Entertainment has released a gameplay trailer unveiling the game’s new mode — Wildcard, a permanent game mode focused on fast-paced fights and last-minute comebacks. Oh, and it also allows you to stack Legends.
“[The] goal was to create lower stakes, a high-energy experience that lets players jump right into the chaos,” the mode’s principal designer J.J. Williams said during a pre-season preview event.
In addition to giving players the option to play the same Legend as their squadmates, the mode mixes up the meta with Wildcards, which can be crafted at Replicators during a match. Wildcards allow players to hide some pretty useful tricks up their sleeves, like the ability to temporarily wall-run. (Respawn hinted at this earlier in the week via a scene in the Season 26 “Anthem trailer,” which shows Ash and Alter chasing each other down the side of a building.)
Wildcard takes place on smaller, modified versions of the game’s maps. Unlike Apex’s standard 60-player battle royale, Wildcard has a 30-player limit, and matches start inside a much smaller ring, forcing teams to engage faster and more frequently. The new mode uses the same respawning system as Revivals (a previous limited-time mode), so as long as one player on the squad is still alive, teammates who are killed will automatically respawn after a brief delay.
The time it takes to respawn can be decreased by collecting a new lootable item: EVO Orbs. These spherical objects pop out of enemy players when they’ve been killed, and are looted automatically (along with most other types of loot aside from weapons, which must still be looted from an enemy’s Death Box). In addition to the decrease in respawn time, picking up EVO Orbs also provides other benefits, like leveling up weapons, granting a bit of Shield charge, and kickstarting health regeneration and Ultimate ability recharges.
Respawn says Wildcard mode is here to stay, but the game’s 3v3 mode, Arenas, is going away for the time being. Initially introduced as a permanent game mode in Season 9 before being removed prior to Season 16, Arenas was reintroduced as a temporary mode in Season 25. Respawn confirmed during Season 26 previews that although Arenas mode is out for now, the studio collected “lots of data” from players during Season 25, and plan to bring Arenas back in a future season.
Apex Legends Season 26: Showdown launches on Tuesday, August 5, at 10 AM PT/1 PM ET.
