It's been quite the first year for Apex Legends, Respawn's battle royale game. Over its first year, Apex Legends saw numerous changes and in-game adjustments--ranging from the addition of new characters and weapons to the implementation of daily/weekly challenges and limited-time events. Now, the battle royale game is going into its second year with Season 4: Assimilation, which adds new character Revenant, the Sentinel sniper rifle, map changes, a battle pass, and several other in-game adjustments.

With the start of Year 2, Respawn wants to tackle Apex Legends a little differently. Whereas Season 1: Wild Frontier, Season 2: Battle Charge, and Season 3: Meltdown were all designed to establish Apex Legends' identity, Assimilation kicks off a year where Respawn wants to be more innovative--both in terms of what Apex Legends can offer its community as well as what the gaming industry can expect from a battle royale game. Respawn doesn't want to abandon its style of episodic storytelling, though.

Year 2: A Year To Innovate

"If you're getting a theme here for our second year, it really centers around innovation," Respawn COO Dusty Welch said in an interview with GameSpot. "You think about the first year of launching something, a new IP successfully, and a team that had not engaged in live service before. And so there's a lot of muscle memory you have to build up and you've got to find your stride, and you've got to protect the team and the team health along the way. You've got to find that sweet spot."