Can you play Apex Legends solo? (Updated)

Yes, there are no Titans, but we have a more important question: Can you play Apex Legends solo?

When you first see Apex Legends, the new battle royale game set in the Titanfall universe, the first thing you notice is that there are no Titans. Or wall-running, for that matter. Respawn tried, but neither element really worked for evenly-balanced battle royale gameplay, so were cut.

The second thing you notice is that, much like Overwatch or Rainbow Six Siege, Apex Legends is a hero shooter.

A hero shooter, for the uninitiated, is sometimes also known as a “character FPS”. This means that the various characters in the game have different jobs or classes, and you’ll need a balance of different heroes – offence, defence, support, healer – to be an effective team. Yes, kind of like Final Fantasy V, actually.

But battle royale games (like PUBG and Fortnite) often work best as solo affairs, mimicking the genre fiction and movies they’re derived from. That’s not to say they’re not great fun in duos or squads, of course, but they’re at their most tense – with victory most rewarding – when you’re flying solo. Nobody wants to share a chicken dinner.

How does that work, then, with a game like Apex Legends? A hero shooter that relies on balanced teams, moulded into the lone wolf, battle royale genre?

The short answer is, it doesn’t. You can’t play Apex Legends solo. At all. Not even a little bit.

It simply wouldn’t work. Some classes in Apex Legends – like the medic – would be completely useless without teammates to use their skills on, so everyone would just play as offensive, DPS heroes.

That’s not to say you can’t still play Apex Legends on your own, though.

It’s entirely reasonable to show up to a round of Apex Legends solo and have a pick-up game with strangers. You don’t need to supply the squad from your friends list. The game features some neat little tricks around communication and co-operation – including co-ordinated jump insertions, Titanfall-style ping comms systems, and a new take on the revive/respawn mechanic – so it’s most definitely geared up for teams.

But if you were hoping to play Apex Legends solo? Then you’re out of luck.

Updated: August 13, 2019

For a limited time, you can play Apex Legends solo.

From today – August 13, 2019, and for the following two weeks – ApeLegs will have a solo mode. It’s part of Respawn’s Iron Crown Collection event, but it won’t be around forever.

If you’d like EA to consider keeping solo on the roster (or at least, bringing it back in the future) for Apex Legends, then you need to vote with your feet. They’ll only do it if the mode proves popular.

But in two weeks, the Apex Legends solo limited-time mode will be gone, and the article above will be accurate again.