“There was some kind of expectation to at least not embarrass myself”
Getting ever so slightly better in APEX LEGENDS
I’ve been playing Apex Legends pretty regularly throughout its fourth season, thanks largely to finding a regular group of friends who jump in for an evening each week. It’s the first time I’ve spent any real quality time with a battle royale, and it’s been something of a revelation. I always sensed I could enjoy the genre, but I’d never taken the time to learn how to be good at them. I’m still not good at Apex Legends, but I am getting better. I’ve even won a round.
Finally, one evening, it happened: My team was announced as the champion squad. With this came a lot of pressure, although I’d be hard pressed to explain why. I rarely pay attention to who I’m fighting in the game, let alone if they’re the champion team. So, it felt like there was some kind of expectation to at least not embarrass myself. That is not how things went down.
It’s not even like our previous match went spectacularly well. We were in the top three, with reasonably good (but not amazing) kit thanks to a successful period of pillaging other players’ supply drops. But we only had a couple of scrappy, early kills from an almost disastrous encounter in a train station. Since then, we’d barely seen another player, and got cocky as a result.
Former PCG editor-in-chief Samuel Roberts and I split off from our teammate, PCG contributor Tom Hatfield, to hijack yet another supply drop. It was a mistake. Hatfield, who stayed back to provide overwatch from a nearby cliff, was ambushed. We ran back, but he was already
FINALLY IT HAPPENED: MY TEAM WAS ANNOUNCED AS THE CHAMPION SQUAD
downed. We managed to take out Tom’s attacker, but were flanked by his teammates. And like that, we were done. Third place; five kills. Not exactly spectacular.
ROYALE DECREE
Still, deserved or not, we were now the champion squad, and I was determined we’d take it at least somewhat seriously. That meant none of my usual recklessness: Pushing for my team to land on the train, land on the party airship, land at the hot zone—all the places that guarantee a quick fight and, usually, an early death. Instead, I suggested the tower at the center of the map, which is often quieter than its huge, imposing presence would suggest.
Only Samuel came at it from the wrong angle. We were too low. We didn’t have enough speed. We crashed onto the cliff that separates the tower from the city, and immediately a message appeared “RETURN TO THE BATTLE!”. We’d landed out of bounds—the game giving us 30 seconds to return to the map. One problem: We were stuck.
The ledge I’d landed on faced inwards at such an incline that I couldn’t run up it. I was wedged in. Helpless, I looked bitterly at the image of my character hanging from the nearby banner, advertizing a proud member of the champion squad to all the map. The timer ran out, and our characters went down. The champions were out.