Top of many Apex Legends players’ wishlists right now is new content. Since launch back in February, Respawn has essentially only released one major update for the battle royale, a snail’s pace that many have ultimately attributed to its slow decline in popularity. Indeed, Season 1: Wild Frontier, which finally introduced a seasonal format and associated Battle Pass à la Fortnite‘s content delivery method, garnered immense criticism for its overall lack of meaningful rewards to chase.
Besides a handful of largely uninspired weapon and character skins, the majority of Wild Frontier’s premium rewards track is filled with unremarkable stat trackers and banners. Unsurprisingly, Respawn was hit with a collective backlash from Apex‘s budding community, prompting the developer to respond with the promise of a better and brighter future. One saving grace, however, presented itself in the form of Octane, a brand new playable Legend that, since release, has attracted near-universal praise.
Similarly to Blizzard’s Overwatch, new characters will surely prove to be the bread and butter of Apex Legends going forward, though if recent developments are any indication, those too, could be in jeopardy of falling flat.
Past data mining of the squad shooter’s files has revealed that one such post-launch DLC character is likely to be Wattson. The electrically-charged hero is presumed to be arriving either as part of the current season or its successor, with some influencers already having had the chance to try them out. Popular streamer Michael ‘Shroud’ Grzesiek recently commented on his prior play-testing of the mystery character at the invitation of Respawn, though early impressions, it would seem, weren’t glowing.
While Shroud clearly didn’t like what he saw, it should be noted that his experience certainly isn’t indicative of Wattson’s overall quality. Similarly to existing character Caustic, Shroud elaborates that he didn’t so much hate the former so much as simply dislike their playstyle, perhaps an early indication that their toolkit could be somewhat similar to the latter. With prior leaks detailing what appear to be specialized shock traps that Wattson can deploy, that certainly seems plausible
Regardless, not until Respawn has anything official to say will we know, for sure, what shape Wattson will take or, for that matter, if they’re even intended to be Apex Legends‘ next newcomer. Recent rumors flying around the internet imply that a certain villain last seen in Titanfall 2 could be taking the spot, and you can see here for all the details.