Apex Legends was easily one of the biggest surprises of 2019 when it seemingly launched out of nowhere, bringing with it a fresh new spin on the battle royale genre that felt smooth and user-friendly thanks to the talent of developer Respawn Entertainment. Since then, the game has only gotten better, expanding with new characters, modes, and maps over the years. If Apex Legends is your first port of call in the morning and the reason why you go to bed at a dangerously late hour, chances are you might be looking for some alternative games to add some variety to your life.
So which games best combine constant live service competition with fast and furious action? We’ve compiled a list of 10 such games below. Some of our picks might not seem very Apex Legends-like, but we aimed for an eclectic list across a variety of genres.
Call of Duty: Warzone
Call of Duty: Warzone is Apex Legends’ biggest competition. There’s no denying that Warzone has been an incredible success for Activision and the various developers responsible for handling this behemoth of a game as it continually evolves and polishes its gameplay. Just like EA’s battle royale, Warzone is a game of last man standing action as dozens of players duke it out to be the sole survivor. Exhilarating when its servers aren’t plagued with cheaters, Warzone plays like a highlight reel of the best moments from the Call of Duty franchise, and for the low cost of absolutely nothing, it provides plenty of bag for your buck. Warzone is playable on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.
Read our Call of Duty: Warzone review.
Doom Eternal
Speed and power is the name of the game, and that’s an idea which Apex Legends shares with Doom Eternal. Id Software’s 2020 sequel to the excellent Doom reboot is a work of violent art, brutal and merciless in the demonic challenges that it throws at players, while it tasks them with running through the forces of Hell with reckless abandon. If Apex Legends isn’t intense enough for you, then Doom Eternal is a spiritually similar take on first-person mechanics that’ll leave your couch soaked in perspiration by the time you finish a level. Doom Eternal is available on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and PC.
Read our Doom Eternal review.
Fortnite
The game which turned the battle royale genre into a global force of entertainment, Fortnite ticks all the right boxes for an alternative take on Apex Legends. It’s free, it’s constantly updating itself with new content, and it has a gigantic community of players who keep the servers full. More importantly, Fortnite shares a common thread of easy-to-learn gameplay with Apex Legends, a gentle learning curve that’s inviting for new players and has its own layers of complexity to master.
Both games also feature a mix of time-limited modes during special events, and while Fortnite undoubtedly has more content available at any given time, it’s a rare example of quantity having consistent quality.
Ghostrunner
One of the key selling points of Apex Legends is its locomotion, and that’s one aspect of the battle royale’s appeal that Ghostrunner excels at. An adrenaline-charged run through rain-soaked streets, Ghostrunner’s protagonist may be more fragile than your usual Apex Legends challenger but they’re agile, fast, and brutally talented at landing a killing blow from a wall-run vantage point. It’s that unrelenting speed, danger, and intensity that makes Ghostrunner so memorable, qualities that have also helped Apex Legends survive the brutal battlefields of the live service gaming genre over the years. Ghostrunner is available on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and PC.
Read our Ghostrunner review.
Knockout City
Knockout City scratches that itch for constant competition that Apex Legends provides, but instead of weapon-based warfare, players engage in a far deadlier activity: Dodgeball. Once you’re equipped with all five Ds of that ancient bloodsport, Knockout City’s charm quickly gets its hooks into you as it provides a consistently fun and imaginative selection of modes and arenas to battle in. Memorable and charming with its clever spin on dodgeball, Knockout City can easily command your attention for hours on end with its addictive dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge gameplay. Knockout City is available on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and PC.
Read our Knockout City review.
Mirror’s Edge Catalyst
Faith’s journey through the city of Glass isn’t exactly suitable for anyone with a sensitive stomach, thanks to the game amplifying the idea of parkour through a digital first-person lens. Motion sickness is a small price to pay for this superb celebration of acrobatic movement though, and much like the agility on display in Apex Legends, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst is astoundingly good at making you feel like an unstoppable acrobat.
When all of its best elements–speed, agility, and an eye for the perfect route–blend together, Mirrors Edge is a unique experience to behold and an absolute thrill to engage in. Mirror’s Edge Catalyst is available on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. EA Play members can play it at no extra charge, too.
Read our Mirror’s Edge Catalyst review.
Overwatch
Blizzard’s Overwatch popularized the idea of the hero-shooter genre, as it threw players into arenas as one of several colorful characters that they could play as. Apex Legends built on that inspiration with its own roster of challengers who brought unique attributes to the battlefield, with new characters being added as the months went buy. Overwatch on the other hand, is a richer experience than ever before and has added almost a dozen new characters in the years that it has been active.
Each new addition radically changes how the game plays as the community experiments with these heroes, and with five years of constant tuning under its belt, Blizzard’s current incarnation of Overwatch is a masterpiece of rock-solid game design. Overwatch is playable on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and PC.
Read our Overwatch review.
Realm Royale
A fascinating twist on the rules of the battle royale genre, Realm Royale mixes fantasy elements with a thoughtful approach to choosing your hero before a match even begins. Every hero has their pros and cons, and choosing the right class results in teams built around versatile offense and defense as arena grows smaller. It’s that nuanced approach to strategy that makes for a more engaging game, and while balance issues are constantly being worked out of the game, Realm Royale feels like a fresh new challenger in a crowded space. Realm Royale is a free-to-play game that’s available on Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, and PC.
Read our Realm Royale review.
Splitgate
Taking a few pages out of classic Halo and Portal playbooks, Splitgate is pure action that’s bound to appeal to Apex Legends fans looking for just enough complexity in an otherwise lean and mean sci-fi shooter. Pure portal combat with multiple opportunities to launch sneak attacks, tactical retreats, and good old-fashioned precision headshots, Splitgate harkens back to a simpler age of arena shooters while packing in plenty of modern twists on its retro formula. Splitgate is currently in early access on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC.
Titanfall 2
When Apex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment first hit the scene in the 2010s, it was with Titanfall, the delightful shooter that combined mechanized melee action with tight first-person action. A great game on its own, its successor would raise the bar for the fledgling franchise by fine-tuning its gameplay and introducing one of the greatest single-player campaigns of the decade. The DNA for Respawn’s mega-popular battle royale game was pulled from Titanfall 2, a sensational game that walked so that Apex Legends could wall-run into action.
Read our Titanfall 2 review.
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Source: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/games-like-apex-legends/1100-6497191/?ftag=CAD-01-10abi2f
