Apex celebrates 20 seasons with colossal gameplay overhauls and anniversary event

Five years of live-service success are cause for celebration, and Respawn Entertainment is bringing the party to Apex Legends with its 20th season, Breakout. The roster will retain its size, but players will see far-reaching changes to Evo shields and the addition of legend upgrades.

To celebrate, Respawn is additionally hosting an in-game event with six free legends up for grabs, a new limited-time mode, a prize tracker with free items made by the Apex community, and 150 Heirloom Shards as a prize if you buy the full collection of cosmetics. These elusive items can be used to purchase any permanent Heirloom set or Prestige skin.

Once the event kicks off, players are looking at what game designer John Larson called the “single largest change to legends since the game launched”: the new legend upgrade system, which grants upgrades mid-match and adds multiple functionalities to all legend abilities. This, in turn, comes with an overhaul to how the game handles Evo Shields and evolving in general, tying both new systems together—and making way for an entirely new gameplay space.

It wouldn’t be a celebration without a party worthy of Mirage, though, so Apex is kicking off the season with a limited-time event in honor of the game’s long and successful lifespan. The Straight Shot LTM is a “streamlined” version of Apex, which “gets you right to the action faster,” according to game director Evan Nikolich.

Players who dive into the Outlands during the season can earn six legends for free: Seer, Fuse, Maggie, Rampart, Loba, and Valkyrie. Every two weeks, a new legend will be available for free throughout the rest of Breakout, with a set of challenges for each character. Completing them unlocks the legends permanently.

Rewarding a set of Heirloom Shards is hardly new for Apex, though that doesn’t make them less of a welcome reward. As usual, though, these drops come with a hefty price tag since they require players to obtain all the items in the event collection.

The event is also bringing a set of prize trackers made by members of the Apex community as another way to acknowledge the devotion of the game’s community for the past five years. You can see all the action yourself when Breakout kicks off on Feb. 13.