The launch of a new season for Apex Legends isn’t just a busy time for the game’s developer.
In the race for first to uncover the inevitable secrets contained within such mammoth-sized updates, data miners waste no time in diving headfirst into the battle royale’s files with the hopes of uncovering a sneak peek of what’s next on the release schedule. Respawn, of course, has bemoaned the fact that surprising players with character reveals and the like have proven to be incredibly difficult in the past due to the efficiency with which leakers are able to dissect Apex‘s codebase. The use of Forge as a MacGuffin to disguise Season 4’s real newcomer, Revenant, remains a constant reminder that data miners can be fooled, of course, though that’s unlikely to be the outcome here.
Following on from a recent devstream, in which many viewers spotted the appearance of what appeared to be an additional UI element, prolific leaker Shrugtal has gone digging behind the scenes and discovered what appears to be new evidence hinting at the inclusion of an all-new weapon type: gadgets.
While everything beyond this point is purely wild speculation, Shrugtal suggests that the empty fourth slot could be reserved for tools such as smoke grenades or other suitably-named gadgets intended to shake up the Apex Legends metagame. Such an element would assuredly open up substantial design space for Respawn which, while currently showing no signs of putting the brakes on adding new characters and weapons, will inevitably find it increasingly difficult to fill the gaps, so to speak.
An alternative theory, on the other hand, is that the slot could be intended for use in an upcoming event or limited-time mode rumoured to be kicking within a matter of weeks. As always, we’ll have to wait and see what the future brings, but for now, feel free to let us know what future purpose you think this mystery addition will serve in the usual place below!