What you need to know
- The next major update for the free-to-play battle royale, titled Defiance and will launch on Feb. 8.
- Cutthroat, punk-rock warlord Mad Maggie will be added as a playable legend.
- Limited time 9v9 game mode, Control, will also be added.
Respawn Entertainment has released a few details for the season 12 update of Apex Legends with a new cinematic trailer. The new season is titled Defiance and will be available on Feb. 8 on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Origin and Steam.
In the cinematic trailer, Stories from the Outlands - Judgement, players see a familiar face: Mad Maggie, who had previously been introduced during Apex's eighth season as a former friend of Fuse. The cinematic provides some backstory about how Mad Maggie, a ruthless warlord fighting against tyranny on her home planet, faces trial for her actions and is sentenced to fight to the death among the other legends in the Apex games. Mad Maggie is being voiced by Nicola Kawana.
Along with the new playable legend, Respawn will also be adding a new limited time mode called Control. Players will squad on two teams of nine, select a loadout, and then drop in with the goal of taking over and holding designated control points on the map. Unlike the standard battle royale mode, Control will feature infinite respawns for the duration of the match. The new mode will only be available for the first three weeks of the new season.
Players can also look forward to a new battle pass and season of Ranked play with the Defiance update, as well as a change to the current Olympus map, which has been out of the map rotation all season. No further details about the map change have been released as of yet, however. An official launch trailer for Defiance is expected on Jan. 27.
