Apex Legends’ Broken Moon map was built on lessons learned from Storm Point

Apex Legends’ newest battle royale map, Broken Moon, was designed with Storm Point in mind, according to the game’s development team at Respawn Entertainment.

In a press event, lead level designer Jeff Shaw was asked what lessons the development team carried forward from Storm Point while creating Broken Moon. He shared that the team believed Storm Point’s scale was “a little large,” which subsequently led to a slow mid-game for squads that couldn’t find anyone to fight. With Broken Moon, Shaw said that the team is “going back to its roots” to design a map with better gameplay flow on a fitting size. Broken Moon is slightly larger than World’s Edge in size, making it the second-largest battle royale map behind Storm Point.

Another lesson learned was height differentials. Storm Point is known for its tall structures, large mountains, and the range between its high points and lowlands. Broken Moon won’t have nearly as many steep hills as its predecessor. Instead, its terrain is closer to that of World’s Edge and Kings Canyon, two maps with relatively flat construction. Shaw described the previous map’s heights as “Uniquely Storm Point,” meaning players likely won’t see those features generalized to other future maps.

To get around quickly on Broken Moon, players will be able to use the map’s Zip Rail system, which was designed to allow for easier rotations and a higher number of unique paths through the map during each play session. Though they have an element of risk-reward to them similar to Storm Point’s gravity cannons—squads can be shot at and ambushed while using the Zip Rails—they seem to be more naturally embedded into the map and their use case is a little different.

Players will be able to try out Broken Moon for themselves when Apex season 15, Eclipse, launches on Nov. 1.