Why Apex Legends’ Broken Moon Map Changes Took Longer Than Usual
When Apex Legends Season 21 kicks off next week, the game’s fifth battle royale map, Broken Moon, will finally be getting a facelift. This is the longest any battle royale map in Apex Legends has gone without a major update, as every other map has gotten a permanent layout change within two seasons of launching. Broken Moon, which was added in Season 15, is only now getting new point of interest landmarks and adjustments to the environment–that’s six seasons later.
“We’ve been working hard on a lot of content,” Apex Legends lead level designer Steve Young told me when I asked why adjustments for Broken Moon took longer than usual. “I think on the map side of things–and obviously Broken Moon is not the only thing that we’ve been focused on, but to that end–I would say that this is a pretty heavy lift as far as the changes that you’re going to see. And yeah, it’s been a long journey, but I’m really happy personally with where Broken Moon is, and I honestly think that fans are going to dig it too. [Also,] we have a lot of active maps right now. These are very detailed maps and we have to keep up with all of them and develop new maps on the side.”
The most notable adjustment to Broken Moon is the destruction of Promenade, the centralmost POI that acts as a major chokepoint given its long, snake-like structure. It’s not uncommon to find yourself contending with three or four other squads (or more!) if you decide to rotate through that location in the latter half of a match because that’s when a lot of people choose to do so (or are forced to depending how the ring is closing). This has led many players to actively avoid the landmark altogether. In Promenade’s place, Broken Moon is getting a brand-new POI called Quarantine.