Apex Legends Season 7 hands-on preview: To the skies

Respawn Entertainment’s Apex Legends will be heading into Season 7 next week, bringing a slew of new changes to the battle royale. This includes Horizon, a new playable legend, as well as Olympus, a brand new map. I had the chance to play several hours of Apex Legends’ Season 7 content on an early PC build.

Up in the clouds

Apex Legends Season 7 introduces Olympus, a new map for the battle royale’s core modes. The third map added to Apex, Olympus is a stark contrast from the brown and gritty design of King’s Canyon and World’s Edge. The map has a colorful aesthetic, with flowers covering the green hills that separate the city and industrial areas. 

Olympus is also up in the sky, meaning that players can fall off the map and plummet to their death. The map includes some interesting points of interest, including a large dome impacted by a black hole called Rift. Players can also find the building where Loba’s parents were killed by Revenant in the cinematic for Season 5.

On Olympus, players will find the Trident, Apex Legend’s first vehicle. Scattered across the map, Tridents are incredibly fast and can cover distance faster than any existing legend or ability. There are no built-in weapons, but there are two side seats where teammates can jump in and shoot their equipped weapons. 

On the Horizon

Olympus is the home of Horizon, Apex’s newest legend. A woman lost in time, Horizon is an astronaut that left her son behind for a mission to outer space. Promising she would return to him, Horizon was tragically caught in a black hole, displacing her in time. When she finally returned to Olympus, her home was ruined and her son was missing. Her life’s mission is to find her son like she once promised she would.

Horizon’s passive ability is called Space Walk and allows her to better maneuver while in the air, as well take zero stun/impact from long falls. Gravity Lift is her tactical ability, which sees Horizon deploy a small device propelling players and vehicles high in the sky. Lastly, her Black Hole ultimate lets her summon a mini black hole that pulls all players and vehicles towards its center.

Playing as Horizon is quite exciting, as her Gravity Lift allows for some neat tactical mobility. It can also flip any combat encounter on its head. Using it offensively, users can send enemy players flying into the air, making it harder for them to fire while also making them an easy target. This ability can also get Horizon and fellow teammates on top of buildings or can be used to quickly flee an ugly situation.

Black Hole is incredibly useful to flush enemies out of an area. With a solid throwing distance, Black Hole can easily pull players out of cover and into the open. I didn’t find much functionality in it outside of that, and wouldn’t be surprised if Respawn tweaks its use after launch.

Apex Legends Season 7 starts next week on November 4. In addition to Horizon and Olympus, Season 7 will add a new battle pass as well as the Clubs feature, where players can make groups and invite friends. For more on the battle royale, visit the Apex Legends topic page on Shacknews.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_