Apex Legends: Breaking Down the Season 5 Launch Trailer

Where's the Gameplay?

Lore and connections between the Legends of Apex Legends is great for those who are interested in it, but some just prefer to know what new weapons are coming and what their next favorite Legend can do. So, where's the gameplay in the launch trailer?

If you recall how Respawn has handled its seasons in the past, you'll know gameplay is still on the way and hasn't been forgotten about in favor of a dramatic cinematic. The trailer above was released by Respawn and Electronic Arts before Season 4 launched and focused solely on gameplay from the current season, so expect one similar to it to be released ahead of Season 5's start.

What's Loba Doing?

For those just now catching up on Loba, she's the girl from the Season 4 cinematic who's grown into the character featured in this trailer. Her parents were killed by Revenant, the simulacrum assassin who's constantly "revived" into different mechanical bodies seen throughout the interior of the structure she's broken into in the video.

She's out for revenge against Revenant and has determined the best course of action to reach her goal is to destroy what's left of the organic matter that once belonged to the robot assassin. If she can do that, it should, in theory, stop Revenant from being transferred to a new vessel when he's destroyed. It's like a hive mind of Revenants, and the only way to take it out for good is to destroy the source.

Where Did Revenant's Head Go?

Loba's plan obviously didn't work out. While her entry into the lab hidden under Kings Canyon went smoothly, a few shots to the "head" of Revenant didn't seal the fate of the assassin. Instead, some defense protocols were activated that transferred the organic material away to safety.

So, where did Revenant's head go? If you stop the trailer on the frame where it shows the glass cracked by Loba's shots, you'll see that the text indicates a transfer is in progress. Solace is the planet referenced on the left of the frame where Kings Canyon is located, and now that it's been compromised, the material is being transferred to what's apparently a similar lab housed on Psamathe.

Players are already theorizing that this could mean a new Season 5 map will take us to Psamathe, the home planet of both Lifeline and Octane, but this could just as easily be an example of worldbuilding to show what the scope of Hammond Robotics' operation and Revenant's persistence looks like. We won't know for sure until Season 5 starts, but either way, Psamathe is where Revenant's source is now located.

What Are Loba's Abilities?

We still don't know what Loba's actual in-game abilities look like despite dataminers' best efforts, and we likely won't know until right up until Season 5 starts. What we do know from the cinematic is that she's got the ability to teleport to different locations and can even bring weapons – and possibly more loot – into her possession from a distance.

The first of Loba's abilities is seen at the start and end of the trailer when she teleports in and out of the lab. To do so, she tosses her bracelet at a location, the same bracelet players have been finding in the game's vaults that transported them into this lab as a teaser. By throwing the bracelet somewhere and then likely reactivating the ability in-game, she can teleport to the bracelet's landing spot.

As for what's probably going to be Loba's Ultimate, we get to see that when her plan goes wrong and the lab's defenses start moving in on her. She uses her hi-tech staff to nab a weapon right out of an enemy's grasp and deliver it to her hands.

The first ability is probably her Tactical while the second is the Ultimate, but that leaves passive abilities unaccounted for until Respawn reveals more.

Was That a New Grenade?

Given everything that was going on in the trailer, a grenade blowing up a structure was a relatively small action by comparison. But towards the end of the trailer, we saw something which may be our first hint at a new type of ordinance coming to Apex Legends in Season 5.

Around the 1:35 moment in the trailer, Loba uses some type of explosive to take out a wave of enemies at once and ultimately bring down the lab itself through a chain reaction. The trailer makes a point to focus on what the explosive looks like, and it's definitely different from anything in the game right now. Arc Stars are the only throwables that stick to surfaces, and that's certainly not an Arc Star.

There's a chance this could be some sort of ability for Loba, but a new type of ordinance for players to use seems more likely.

What's Happening to Skull Town?

While all this was happening below, aboveground was Skull Town, a popular destination on the Kings Canyon map that's the perfect place to drop if you want to get in a fight right away. The Legends above were apparently totally unaware of Loba's struggle going on underground.

We say "was" to refer to Skull Town because the area is apparently toast now. The destruction in the lab decimated areas around Skull Town, but it's impossible to tell the scope of the damage from the trailer alone. Something's certainly changing as far as Skull Town is concerned, but again, we won't know what the area looks like until more information is revealed.

Are Loba and Revenant Cool Now?

Skull Town is in pieces, the lab has been blown apart, and Revenant got away to a new planet. So what does this mean for the struggle between Loba and the assassin who upended her life?

Based on what Revenant said to her in the final moments of the trailer, he remembers her from before and recognizes her now. He's also aware of the fact that she's come to kill him, but since her original plan failed, she can't truly end him.

Apparently that's alright with her "for now," according to the final words of the trailer. She's found herself in the middle of the Apex Games alongside Revenant and the other characters, and if killing Revenant's temporary vessels over and over is as close as she can get to finishing him off for the time being, it looks like she's going to take that opportunity.

Any lingering questions about Season 5 will hopefully be answered as we draw nearer to the season's start date. It's scheduled to begin on May 12th, so expect answers then if not before.