Apex Legends Kings Canyon Map Returns Tomorrow (Temporarily)

Well, this is a nice surprise. Starting tomorrow, February 21, Apex Legends will see the return of Season 1: Wild Frontier's Kings Canyon map. The map will remain in the game for the weekend, leaving on Monday, February 24.

Apex Legends' original map will return as a separate playlist in the game, allowing you to play in unranked on either Kings Canyon or World's Edge. The competitive playlist will continue to only support World's Edge, though it will transition to Kings Canyon halfway through Season 4: Assimilation.

It's worth noting that, as it's the one from Wild Frontier, the Kings Canyon that's coming back is not exactly the same as the one we last saw. Kings Canyon underwent a major transformation in Season 2: Battle Charge, which saw both leviathans and flyers invade the arena.

The destruction that these creatures caused created space for new buildings to be constructed. Certain areas of Kings Canyon--previously bombed into oblivion--also saw the return of trees and bushes that offered new hiding places on the map. Town takeovers themed around Octane and Wraith were added to Kings Canyon as well, both of which added landmarks in previously empty spaces.

All of these changes redesigned Kings Canyon so that it funneled squads towards the center of the map, encouraging more hectic firefights in the mid- to late-match. Without them, firefights will likely be a lot more spread out--similarly to how the game played at launch.

In an interview with GameSpot, Respawn talked about how it also wants to see the permanent addition of certain limited-time modes (like Solos and Duos) as well as multiple map playlists, but it doesn't want to do so at the detriment of the game. This is the third time Respawn has tested how players react to having both Kings Canyon and World's Edge in Apex Legends at the same time--the first time being Fight or Fright and the second being Grand Soiree Arcade.