Highlights
- Apex Legends’ new character Alter is apparently connected to Dr. Somers/Horizon in some way that has yet to be fully revealed.
- Alter’s unique abilities, like breaching portals, promise to disrupt the game’s meta and provide new gameplay opportunities.
- The development team aimed to create a truly evil character in Alter, contrasting with previous misunderstood characters.
Apex Legends recently released content that ties new legend Alter’s backstory to Dr. Somers’, aka Horizon. Apex Legends is a free-to-play battle royale game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts. From the very start, Apex has been focusing on rich character-driven storytelling.
The developers recently revealed exciting details about Apex Legends‘ Season 21, highlighting significant updates and the introduction of a new character, Alter. In an interview, key team members discussed Alter’s unique abilities, including her breaching portal, which underwent several iterations before its final design. They also touched on her villainous persona and distinctive features, such as her horn and tail-like appendages, which contribute to her gameplay and narrative appeal.
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Apex Legends: Altered Horizons Trailer Reveals Entangled Backstory
In the latest story reveal trailer titled “Altered Horizons,” Respawn reveals that the new legend Alter’s backstory is connected to Horizon’s. The trailer starts with a recorded message where Dr. Somers’ son, Newton, tells her that even though everyone says it’s a dream, he surely knows that Horizon went back to Newton, like she promised. A time traveling device is shown lying on a table while Elliott (Mirage) and Ajay (Lifeline) are talking to Horizon, asking her to take a break. Lifeline mentions that the team has been working on the device for days, and Mirage doubts whether time travel is possible. Right after the conversation, a blackout takes place and Dr. Somers loses sight of the device and both her teammates.
Horizon later finds that it was Alter who stole the device and captured Mirage and Lifeline. Apex Legends‘ chaotic and villainous character Alter then gets into a fight with the team, getting rid of Elliott and Ajay first. During her fight with Horizon, Alter says that the rest of the legends don’t know the doctor like she does and that she knows what Horizon is capable of. She also indicates that she has seen several versions of Horizon, even though Dr. Somers emphasizes that she doesn’t know Alter at all. The trailer ends with Alter held at gunpoint while she goes on saying that she knows how to make the time traveling device work and that Newton needs her.
Apex Legends‘ Alter introduces a suite of unique abilities that promise to disrupt the game’s meta. Her passive ability, Gift From The Rift, allows her to detect and loot items from deathboxes through walls. Her tactical ability, Void Passage, creates two-way portals through most surfaces for quick traversal, while her ultimate ability, Void Nexus, deploys an interactive portal device that players can use for transportation.
Creating Apex Legends‘ latest villain involved a detailed process spearheaded by Ian Holstead and Jaclyn Seto. According to narrative lead Ashley Reed, the team aimed to introduce a truly evil character, a stark contrast to previous misunderstood characters, similar to Ash. Jaclyn brought personal cultural elements into Alter’s development, including careful integration of Cantonese. With the release of Alter’s backstory trailer, Apex Legends players will undoubtedly wait for further revelations to know about the real connection between Horizon and Alter.