Respawn Entertainment just announced the Apex Legends Genesis Collection Event as part of the first major update of Apex Legends Season 9.
This event focuses on the past, with skins and cosmetics from before the Legends were Legends.
It is also temporarily bringing back the Season 0 Kings Canyon map and Season 3 World's Edge map, much to the joy of many longtime Apex Legends fans.
This means that classic POIs will return to the game, like Skull Town, Thunderdome, and Bridges for Kings Canyon, and Capitol City and Fuel Depot for World's Edge.
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While nostalgia can be a great thing, it may be an unnecessary step backward for Apex Legends.
Why Roll Back Old Maps?
Players from almost any online multiplayer game will wax poetic about "the good 'ol days," back when a game was fresh and new.
Often it is not that the game was actually better back then, but the players were still in the honeymoon phase of playing, so view that period of time with rose-colored glasses.
It is not uncommon to hear Apex Legends, Fortnite, and PUBG players complain about how stale new updates are and how much better old versions of maps were compared to their modern counterparts.
Unfortunately for them, things change, and oftentimes for the better.
Without change, these games would grow stale and lose their player base.
It would also be really hard to pull in new players with gameplay that it too far in the past.
Respawn Entertainment has always been committed to balancing the game, is very transparent about Apex Legends' problems over the years, and has taken the steps they need to fix them.
This includes everything from weapon stats, Legend tweaks, and even map changes.
While map updates are exciting and thematic for most Seasonal updates, these changes also give developers a chance to smooth them out for more balanced gameplay.
Will old Kings Canyon and World's Edge still feel balanced and fair to Apex Legends players who have experienced the gradual balancing of the game by developers over time?
Some players may go back and realize the flaws of these earlier designs, tainting their memory of their time from back when Apex Legends was first released.
Also keep in mind that these maps were designed before some Legends were added to the game, and may either work too well or be too harsh for the newer characters to play in.
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What About The Skull Town Arena?
The addition of Skull Town to Arenas is a different story.
While the popular POI has been plucked straight out of Season 0 for use in Arenas, Respawn Entertainment has taken the time to make sure it works well for the new gameplay mode.
Skull Town's arrival in Arenas is not just taking an old map and tossing it into rotation for players to play on, it was an intentional choice to take and make usable in Arenas for players to challenge each other in an entirely new game mode.
This will change how players approach the map and force them to rethink the strategies they may have once used in Skull Town when hot dropping there at the beginning of a match.
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The Deed is Done
Whether or not the addition of old-school maps will work well or not does not really matter at this point.
Come June 29, 2021, players will log into Apex Legends to find the two maps in rotation once again.
There will be much rejoicing by longtime players, even if a handful finds the experience much different than they remember.
In the end, Respawn is taking a chance trying something they think players will enjoy, and at least there are a ton of rewards to work towards while the Collection Event is in progress.
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