Destruction AllStars and Onrush were deeply underappreciated games that deserved way more players than they each got, and I have held fast that the continued lack of the “hero” formula in racing/derby games is a crime. So you can imagine my anguish when Apex Legends Season 29, titled Overclocked, teased its next playable character with a cinematic trailer that reveals her racing origins before reiterating that she’s being added to a battle royale, not a battle racer.
Now, I know that Apex Legends has always been and will always be a shooter. Respawn is not going to make a brand-new mode in an entirely different style of game just because of one character’s backstory or my wish to see Apex Legends’ universe expanded in more gaming genres. But dammit, there’s just such a huge narrative and gameplay draw to what’s otherwise some throwaway clips in a short cinematic trailer. The glimpse of this battle race is brief, but it is memorable–I want to play as unique racers who speed through obstacles in the Mad Max-looking world of Salvo! Hell, why wasn’t that the mobile spin-off?
My selfish dreams aside, Overclocked’s new racer-turned-legend, who goes by the codename of Axle, looks like a very cool and awesome addition to the game. As an Octane main, Axle’s need for speed is immediately appealing–I haven’t been this excited about a new playable legend since Season 9’s Valkyrie, who was also all about movement but specifically through the skies. So you’re off the hook Respawn (for now), but I’m watching y’all–you can’t expect to tease me with the idea of a hero battle racer in the Titanfall/Apex Legends universe and then just expect me to forget about how amazing an idea that is.
Apex Legends’ latest speed demon
Given the nature of her reveal, it’s easy to think that Isa “Axle” Wegner is just Octane 2.0, and while I’m not discounting that that could still be the case (I haven’t had a chance to play as her yet), I theorize that there’s an important distinction to be made between the two: Whereas Octane is a legend built for speed, Axle looks more like she’s geared toward building and maintaining momentum.
“That’s a good description,” Apex Legends lead legend designer Josh Mohan told me when I asked if that was a good way of thinking about it. “I think momentum versus speed is a good way of splitting it. I think the difference with Octane is that if you use Stim, you can go in any direction you want, change directions, and just be really squirrely, whereas Axle’s expression of speed is more momentum-based. Because you get going in a certain direction and then you’re kind of locked to that direction because you’re in a slide. Even though their passive [ability] increases your slide control, you still are somewhat restricted to the direction you’re initially heading in. To be more intentional, you have to know where you’re going before you start.”
In that same respect, it seems like a few of Axle’s in-match upgrades are focused on amplifying and maintaining that sense of momentum, giving her avenues to keep moving forward over and around terrain without having to slow down.
“One of her upgrades gives her jumping power out of the slide,” Mohan said. “Its use is up to the creativity of people–I’m really curious to see how people use that. I don’t know what the tactical benefit would be of using that to get air off a ramp, but I’m sure there’s going to be somebody out there going for records in airtime.”
Axle’s focus on moving in one direction quickly and not changing course extends into her characterization. Like Octane, she has a one-track mind–she’s just a lot more intense than his happy-go-lucky personality.
“Axle is not really for–I don’t want to say for crown and country–for warlord and country the same way Mad Maggie is, but she’s also not flippant in the way Fuse is,” Apex Legends narrative lead Ashley Reed told me. “She’s just very focused on what’s going on with her, what she needs to do to win, and nothing else really. It’s just, ‘What can I do to win?’ There is a bit more in her lore about a rival of hers, [Weaver], whom she competed against for the Apex card. But that [lore], again, is very focused [to Axle], more focused on the character, not [Salvo].”
She continued: “[Axle] is very upfront. She is here to win, and there’s nothing else worth caring about. She’s lost body parts over this. She’s had major scarring, but she’s like, ‘No, nothing matters as long as I win. And if I lose this time, I do whatever it takes to get good enough to win next time.’ She may have a little bit more going on in terms of the people in her life, but that’s something even she’s not exactly aware of. She’s very ‘Ah, feelings? Naw, I can’t be dealing with that. If I just keep going, I’ll outrun them.’ So she’s pretty straightforward in terms of her motivation, but what she’s running away from, maybe that’ll take a little longer to be realized [in Apex Legends’ story].”
A new way to push enemy squads
Despite their differences, however, there are similarities between Octane and Axle in terms of what role they embody in a squad, as both legends are in the Skirmisher class, making their ability kits primarily about mobility and evasion. Instead of fancy portals or body-enhancing drugs like the other Skirmishers, however, Axle uses good ol’ fashioned engineering. After her leg was hacked off with a buzzsaw axe during a battle race (again, Respawn, this nonexistent game sounds cool as hell), Axle incorporated her motorcycle’s wheels into her prosthetic leg, allowing her to propel herself along the ground and “drive” at high speeds without the need of a vehicle.
And that’s her passive ability: Drift. Drift grants Axle greater lateral movement and distance to her slide, letting her skate around the battlefield as a smaller target that’s more difficult to hit. To go even faster, she can throw out her tactical ability, Nitro Gate, which grants an initial boost of momentum to the slide speed of anyone who passes through it, whether that’s her, her allies, or other squads. And finally, Axle’s ultimate ability, Kickstart, has her throwing out a drone that seeks out the nearest enemy and explodes once it’s found its target, dealing damage and major knockback to anyone caught in the blast.
“From the video gameplay, the speed you can get off her Nitro Gate [ability] can look intimidating,” Mohan said. “And I think her whole vibe is that she’s an intimidating character, so I get that. But she’s actually easier in practice than it seems because her passive gives you a lot more slide control, so you’re not locked into a straight line. You have this unique ability to drift left and right and control where you’re going [and that] takes a little bit of practice, definitely. When I started playing with her, I hit a few crates, hit a few trucks, but it didn’t take long to pick it up, and then I was bopping and weaving through the countryside. It’s really fun. It’s really about getting into a kind of groove with it. But I wouldn’t say it’s as hard as it looks on video. Because that slide control really helps.”
He continued: “I don’t have the exact numbers offhand, but [Nitro Gate] feels like you’re reaching a speed that you’ve never been before outside of the skydive. It feels quite fast. And the way that we balance it out is you are stuck in a slide during that [boost in momentum]. So I feel like this is a way to create a unique experience, of getting this really cool sense of speed while balancing it out by adding some restrictions–you’re not running [and] you can’t change direction [because] you’re in a slide. So that was our way of adding a new style of movement that feels balanced amongst all the other ways you can do it.”
Kickstart is the oddball of the bunch: an ability that deals damage instead of amplifying Axle’s movement. It’s clear to see where the inspiration for Kickstart comes from–it’s a weaker variation of the terrifying Rev Shell Grenades from numerous past Halloween events; the ones that would laugh maliciously as they flew through the air towards the nearest enemy they locked onto–but it’s not easily apparent why Axle is the one to get it. Up to this point, the only Skirmisher with an ability that could hurt another legend was Ash, and her Arc Snare only did minor damage. Its primary purpose, as a snare, is to lock a target into place to make it easier to outmaneuver them.
My best guess is that Kickstart is designed to be less of an explosive for dealing damage, and more a means by which Axle can find hidden players and push them out of a position so that she can more easily outmaneuver them. Still, I can’t help but feel like locking down a target feels like the way more Skirmisher-y option (If you’re trying to get around someone, it makes more sense to lock them in place momentarily, right?).
Part of me also wonders if this drone is meant to help differentiate Axle from an already-crowded legend roster, half of whom have some sort of ability meant to keep an enemy player in place. Two Skirmishers have abilities that can slow an enemy down already–Ash with her aforementioned Arc Snare and Horizon with her Black Hole–and then among the non-Skirmisher classes, Ballistic, Bangalore, Fuse, Mad Maggie, Crypto, Seer, Sparrow, Valkyrie, Catalyst, Caustic, Wattson, Conduit, Gibraltar, and Newcastle all have an ability that can slow, stun, or trap an enemy player in place.
Meanwhile, when it comes to quickly propelling or pushing another player out of a hiding spot, there are only two real options: Newcastle’s Castle Wall and Mad Maggie’s Wrecking Ball (frag grenades work too, but in terms of legend abilities, this is it). Neither of those two abilities can track down an enemy player who is in hiding, however, and while Wrecking Ball has solid knockback, Castle Wall really doesn’t–its stun effect is the part you really want to avoid. That makes the major knockback part of Axle’s Kickstart ability quite unique, differentiating her not only from the other Skirmishers but from all of the playable legends. As much as momentum is a key part of the overall Apex Legends experience, I think this part of Axle’s kit is going to be the major factor in determining her usefulness in higher-tier levels of play.
“We have slowed down with character releases, and I think that’s partially a recognition for us, that we really want to make sure we’re producing something that adds a new mechanic to the game, just speaking from the design side,” Mohan said. “And that’s kind of where we start–what’s the kit, what’s the play loop for the character, what are the abilities that they do, how does it feel to play? And then from there, we build around more specific [mechanics] and the character’s personality.”
He continued: “Hopefully, if we’re offering a unique play experience, that creates an opportunity for a unique story as well, because it’s not overlapping. When we say, ‘Oh, what if we added another combat medic, when we already have Lifeline,’ we ask, ‘How do you differentiate the personality of another combat medic?’ But if we already have a new, unique play style, it often creates a new player fantasy. With Axle, it’s ‘Oh, I’m stepping into the shoes of a Mad Max driver. Wow, we don’t have one of those.’ It becomes way easier to come up with an interesting personality, a new personality, and more space inside of that if the place experience is [unique].”
Apex Legends Overclocked is scheduled to begin May 5, 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Alongside the addition of Axle, Season 29 will add a new respawn mechanic that lets you bring a fallen ally back into the fight straight from their death box, and gives Conduit and Vantage much-needed buffs to their respective ability kits, both increasing their in-match power and transforming them into strong “speed bump” counters to Skirmisher legends like Axle.