Broken Moon features larger PoIs than other Apex Legends maps to hopefully prevent one area from becoming dominant and seeing half the player count drop before the first circle closes. However, for those who skirt the ring, Respawn wanted to provide a more innovative way to get around and perhaps even spice up combat. As discussed during a preview event that Game Rant attended, the ziprail system accomplishes all of this and more. We also spoke with developers Jeff Shaw, Eduardo Agostini, and David Duong about this content.
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The ziprail system is very similar to the various zips located around other maps, but are much larger, increase speed and momentum, and deeply impact traversal and combat on Broken Moon. These systems can take players from one Apex Legends Point of Interest to another, enabling those around the edge of the map to look quicker and get into the match better equipped. These are great for getting around the larger, more central PoIs, and it opens a ton of new doors for combat. According to Jeff Shaw, Broken Moon stands out from other maps because this focus on mobility. It feels very natural to quickly go from PoI to PoI, looting and preparing for any upcoming fights, and it adds a nice touch to combat too.
With the way they operate, banking, curving, and zooming around locations, they are the chaos of a roller coaster in Apex Legends. Their described as high-risk, high-reward movement options because they are great to make a quick escape, to make an effective push, to chase after enemies who are fleeing (on the ziprail system too), and to fight enemies on the ziprail. Respawn Entertainment even joked about a “jousting” meta during the preview event, but this implies that players are able to be on the same ziprail, heading toward each other. And at the stopping points for the ziprail, it’s easy enough to set up ambushes. In other words, the ziprail system is as much of a boon for fun, chaotic combat in Apex Legends as it is for traversing the map, rotating between locations, and so on.
Of course, it remains to be seen how deeply these impact the game or if they are an iterative feature Respawn moves on from, but there definitely seems to be promise. Luckily, Apex Legends season 15 launches on November 1, so it’s not a long wait until fans find out.
Apex Legends is available now for Mobile, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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