Apex Legendshas been in a content drought of late. With eachevent inApex Legends' Season 15: Eclipse comes a missed opportunityto remedy a lack of Legend changes. Seasonal events like Shadow Royale and Winter Express that were once fresh and fun have become stale due to a lack of innovation. There’s only be so many times Respawn Entertainment can bring back the fan-favorite Control mode before players start looking for something new.
So when the release of the Celestial Sunrise Collection Event brought a new Hardcore Royale limited-time mode, players were understandably interested. Trios and Ranked Leagues are the most played modes inApex Legends, so a more difficult version of the two seems like a recipe for success. While Hardcore Royale can be fun, its novelty quickly wears off.
RELATED:Apex Legends: Why Players Want to See More Seer Nerfs
Apex Legends' Hardcore Royale Thrives with Little Shields and Health
There are a few key differences between Trios and Hardcore Royale. First off, all players start matches with only level 1 Body Shields and no Helmets, harkening back to a time when Evo Shields weren’t a thing andarmor swappingwas more integral. Yet in Hardcore Royale, armor swapping has been disabled altogether. This makes it hard to fight enemies in rapid succession, and encourages the use of the game’s animated finishers to restore shield rather than looting their Death Boxes. Fortified Legends like Gibraltar, Newcastle, and Caustic will have an easier time surviving since they can absorb more damage. The downside of picking these larger Legends is that their big hitboxes make them easier to shoot in the head. Seeing as helmets inApex Legendsreduce the amount of headshot damage received, their absence in Hardcore Royale makes headshots lethal.
If having reduced shields, no helmets, and the removal of armor swapping wasn’t enough, players also have to be wary about their health in relation to the ring. While Duos, Trios, and Ranked Leagues increased the ring damage for every succeeding round, Hardcore Royale’s rings deal maximum damage from the start. This allows the ring to easily eliminate players caught on the outside in a matter of seconds. Not only that, butHeat Shields - which can normally save players from ring damage- are relatively useless as they don’t last long in high-damage rings. This forces players to rotate early or risk being eliminated by s non-player element.
The Lack of Information in Hardcore Royale Causes Paranoia
HUDs in Hardcore Royale are also limited. Players can’t see their mini-maps and ally health bars by default, so they have to manually open the full map to access this information. While doing so may seem like an easy way to cheat the mode’s reduced HUD elements, fighting with a large map on-screen is just as difficult.
Apart from the mini-map and ally health bars, there is also no ammo counter in Hardcore Royale. To compensate for this, players have to either monitor how many shots they fire (this is much easier witha slow-firing weapon like a Wingman) or constantly reload to make sure their weapons have ammunition in them. Another way to circumvent the default lack of an ammo counter is by inspecting the weapon on hand. Though it looks like the amount of information hidden by the reduced HUD is minuscule, players will realize how important the data is while in the thick of battle.
Hardcore Royale Doesn’t Offer Much Else for Apex Legends
When the reduced HUD and other elements are removed, Hardcore Royale is still essentially just Trios. The only real difference is that players die more often, which leads to games not lasting very long. The lack of information makes Hardcore Royale feel cumbersome to play, and it isn’t hard to seeplayers going back to Duos, Trios, and Ranked Leaguesafter they get their fill of the new limited-time mode.
Hardcore Royale doesn’t have that much of a spin to it,unlike game modes like Armed and Dangerous(which provides reduced armor and exclusively provides shotguns and sniper rifles to play with) or Ring Fury (which includes ring flares in addition to the normal ring). If anything, Hardcore Royale takes more elements away from the normal battle royale modes than adds to them. While its attempt to mimic other franchises' hardcore modes is commendable, Hardcore Royale’s freshness wears off fast, making it one ofApex Legends' weaker limited-time modes.
Apex Legendsis available now on Mobile, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
MORE:What 2022’s Massive Leak Tells Us About Apex Legends' Season 16 Character
