Titanfall's Flyers Have Appeared Inside Apex Legends, And We're Not Sure Why
Fans of the Titanfall series got a pretty big surprise when they logged into Apex Legends yesterday, as a familiar beast has appeared in the battle royale shooter's skies; undoubtedly a tease for what lies ahead in the game's second season.
Flyers, as they're called in the Titanfall universe, have typically been hostile creatures in Respawn's other titles. But the ones now soaring around inside Apex Legends are, so far, indifferent to the action happening on the ground. You can find them in various areas of the map, engaging in a little carefree flight as the multitude of Legends do battle below them. And unlike their Titanfall brethren, they've yet to attack a single soul; instead, they appear to have found peace in remaining above the fray.
How long that will last, however, is up for debate.
Some players have discovered that the Flyers can be grappled to, which definitely makes for some interesting map traversal. And with a lot of dedication, the Flyers can be killed, too, and will drop some high-quality loot should you manage to down one. Seeing as we're less than two weeks away from the start of Apex Legends' Season 2, their presence inside the game feels like an obvious indicator of what might come when that new season's content arrives. And it's led to a lot of debate about how the existence or the behavior of the Flyers might change in between now and the start of Season 2 on July 2.
A tweet from the official Apex Legends Twitter account shows a rather cryptic terminal that marks several points on the shooter's map while displaying "SYSTEM MALFUNCTION" in large, bold letters. These points appear to show the locations where you might locate a Flyer in the game, and make it painfully clear that these creatures are not meant to be anywhere near the island. How do you deal with a bunch of enormous reptile trespassers? Kill them, we presume. So there's a possibility these creatures could be wiped out in some way, whether by a player-led targeted hunt or by some kind of strike that takes out the Flyers while also altering the Apex Legends map in unforeseen ways.
It's also entirely possible that Apex Legends has been visited by some of the more tranquil Flyers in their species, but they might not stay that way for long. Hordes of players have been trying to kill the creatures for the loot they drop, and committing mass murder is one way to turn a friend into an enemy rather quickly. Could we see the Flyers become more hostile over time, perhaps has we draw closer to the start of Season 2? That's something we'd definitely love to see.
Apex Legends has a few environmental hazards, sure, but those hazards can't fly, and they won't attack you. Imagine the endgame of an Apex Legends match where one of the opposing players is suddenly scooped up out of nowhere by a Flyer. Or imagine a team trying to move stealthily through a valley, only to have a Flyer turn up and alert everyone around to that team's location. If the Flyers turn nasty, they could definitely add some interesting gameplay elements to Apex Legends and make every match a lot more unpredictable in the process.
Up to this point, we've not seen anything to indicate that the Flyers are going to do more than just fly around, however. And as we said before, we still have a little more than a week and a half until Apex Legends' next season starts. We could see some changes in the days ahead, as Respawn preps for the launch of the new season, and the team tries to build some hype around the new content coming to the game. But at this moment in time, the Flyers are little more than birds in the sky that'll drop some loot if you want it bad enough. They're not the bloodthirsty maniacs you remember from the Titanfall games of years' past, and they're not an enemy; not yet, anyway.
We'll be sure to keep you up to speed should we learn more about the Flyers and why they're in the game. In the meantime, mark your calendars for the start of Apex Legends' Season 2, which arrives on July 2.