Respawn’s hugely popular battle royale Apex Legends continues to impress thanks to its robust, snappy gameplay and fleshed-out world. With a steady player base that puts the game in league with the likes of Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone, Apex has become a gold standard in gaming.
The game is coming off a strong Season 11, too. Last season saw the long-awaited introduction of the menacing simulacrum Ash as a Legend, bringing with her another deep-dive into Titanfall 2‘s surprisingly deep lore. Season 12 — subtitled Defiance — brings another lore-rich Legend into the mix, though it’s one tied explicitly to Apex‘s original storyline.
Who is Season 12’s New Legend?
Hailing from Salvo, players got their first look at Margaret “Mad Maggie” Kōhere in Stories from the Outlands: Good as Gold, which premiered to promote Season 8: Mayhem. Maggie was the childhood friend of Season 8’s new Legend, Fuse, but the two grew apart as they got older and their priorities shifted. When Fuse decided to leave Salvo’s bloodsport, the Bonecage, for the Apex Games, the rift between the two grew immeasurable. Mad Maggie attempted to kill Fuse, who managed to escape but lost an arm in the process.
Since then, Mad Maggie has been a recurring background element. During Fuse’s coronation in the Season 8 launch trailer, Maggie took control of the IMS Thermopylae and fired its weapons into the onlooking crowd. Fuse blew up the Thermopylae before anyone was hurt, but the wrecked ship became a key location on the map that season. Mad Maggie and the Syndicate spent much of the season attacking key locations on the map, but they were eventually stopped in-canon by Fuse.
In the first Stories From the Outlands to tease Season 12, Judgment, it’s revealed that the Mercenary Syndicate was able to capture Maggie as she led riots on fringe worlds. Arrested and tried for crimes against the Syndicate, Maggie narrowly escapes execution thanks to intervention from Octane’s father, Dr. Eduardo Silva, on behalf of the Magistrate. Instead, Mad Maggie is told she’ll be forced to join the Apex Games.
Apex Legends Season 12 Gameplay Trailer
The Season 12 launch trailer is perhaps one of the biggest to date, and the twists and turns are plentiful. Dumped into the Apex Games on the Olympus map as part of her sentence to trial by combat, Mad Maggie quickly finds herself in over her head. However, while on the run from other Legends, she falls into an underground bunker. There, Maggie finds Dr. Silva running a computer program called Defiance, indicating he plans to use Mad Maggie’s sudden appearance as a scapegoat. Silva launches Maggie out of the room before she can attack him, but she does manage to steal his glasses.
Back on the surface of Olympus, the Defiance program kicks the arena into utter chaos. The black hole technology transports the Olympus ship to a new area, with objects and structures damaged and falling apart. Maggie finds herself on a squad with Octane and Lifeline, and after a brief skirmish (and a fierce encounter with Fuse), Maggie is able to convince them she’s not responsible for the chaos by showing them Dr. Silva’s glasses.
Season 12’s Latest News & Release Date
In addition to the new Legend and the changes to Olympus, Season 12 introduces a new limited-time mode, Control. Available during Season 12’s first three weeks, Control is a 9v9 mode where players must hold control points. Players will have infinite respawn. While not announced as of the time of this writing, Season 12 is also expected to include the usual array of holosprays, skins, quips and charms, as well as a new weapon.
Of course, Season 12 is more than just the new season. The February season marks the anniversary of Apex Legends‘ launch, kicking off three years of frantic, trigger-finger action. To celebrate, Respawn is kicking off the season with free log-in rewards to entice new players, including three free Legends for players who hadn’t unlocked them yet: Octane, Wattson and Valkyrie.
Apex Legends Season 12: Defiance kicks off on February 8, 2022, across Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC. Cross-play is supported, but cross-progression is still unavailable, though Respawn has mentioned in the past that it is something they hope to implement in the future.
About The Author
