Season 19 of Apex Legends, Ignite, might not be coming with a new map, but it is coming with one of the biggest overhauls yet to a map that’s been lined up for a makeover for some time now.
A storm has been brewing on the edge of Storm Point, and with its landfall has come some drastic changes to the scale of the map and its POIs. That map size factor was one of the focal points of the update, according to Apex’s world director Eduardo Agostini, allowing for more mid-game action and an improvement to how the map feels in casual playlists.
“We all know that it is a very well-played map in competitive,” Agostini said at a recent press event. “It’s got really good competitive integrity, but sometimes I think it’s hard to get into a fight in our more casual play. People are always looking for those exciting combat scenarios.”
Remedying this issue without sacrificing that competitive integrity, he noted, required a variety of diverse solutions that ended up with around 40 percent of the map getting touched. That includes six new POIs in total, either set to replace locations that were destroyed in the storm or established as part of the island’s rebuilding efforts. It also involved shifting the placement of one of its more prominent pre-existing POIs, Lightning Rod, and even reducing the size of the coastline in the southern parts of the map.
“One of the primary goals for us was that we wanted to improve the fun factor,” he said. “What you’ll see is we added some central POIs that allow for that immediate combat such as Wattson’s Pylon and CETO Station. CETO Station now replaces what was a little no-name Prowler island, and so it creates a new attractive drop in the middle. That should result in a more exciting mid-game with more frequent encounters.”
The majority of these map updates link into a wider narrative involving the Syndicate and ECHO—two factions that are both setting up shop in the wake of the landfall to get the infrastructure repaired. Most notably on the Syndicate side, the new Pylon POI is actually a Town Takeover for Wattson, who is on the ground helping with the power grid. According to Agostini, all of the new locations are about getting to “dive into both of those camps.”
“We’ve got Wattson’s Pylon, which is sort of like the headquarters for all the energy infrastructure that’s being set up,” he said. “ZEUS Station and CETO Station kind of support that as well. Then we have the ECHO Headquarters—they’ve got a major base there that is their base of operations while they clean up the old Fish Farms, now known as Devastated Coast. And there’s our Coastal Camp, which is where the Hestia used to be and you can see pieces of the washed-up ship still there, but ECHO is trying to clean up all of that.”
These factors, when combined with a rework to what the devs dubbed the “forbidden zone” in the middle of the map and a total overall increase in the amount of loot available, should help Storm Point start to look like a much more exciting option for the casual crowd. As to how well the updates will maintain its competitive integrity? That will become much clearer as pro players get their hands on the map next week.
An overhaul for Storm Point with no new map in sight makes this the first year since Apex launched in 2019 that hasn’t included a new map release for the battle royale mode. Maps are updated frequently enough in Apex that this ultimately isn’t going to be a huge deal to players who just want the content to feel fresh, but it does point to Respawn slowing down production with the game now sitting at five maps overall.
Storm Point’s Energized map update will be going live with Apex season 19, Ignite, when it launches across all platforms on Oct. 31.
