Apex Legends is live on Origin now

Electronic Arts has officially taken the wraps off of Respawn's new game: Apex Legends, a battle royale shooter set in the world of Titanfall. It's free to play, and you can play it right now via Origin.

Apex didn't exactly come as a surprise, as the reveal was leaked before today's livestream. Now you can download it and try it for yourself.

Unlike most battle royales, Apex Legends will not support solo or duo play. Instead, 60 players do battle in squads of three, with characters chosen from a roster of unique Overwatch-style heroes, each with his or her own passive, active, and ultimate abilities. Coordinating with your squad is a big deal—in another break from battle royale norms, you'll actually be able to bring dead teammates back to life at some risky respawn stations scattered throughout the map.

Despite the setting, there are no titans in Apex Legends. And while player are highly mobile, the more extreme examples of Titanfall's Pilot mobility, like double-jumping and wall-running, are absent. Some weapons will be familiar to Titanfall fans, but the gunplay has some added depth thanks to new ballistics modeling that means you'll have to adjust your aim to lead targets or compensate for distance. The team behind Apex Legends is the same team that developed Respawn's acclaimed Titanfall 2

Wes recently spent several hours playing Apex Legends, and came away optimistic: It doesn't reinvent battle royale, but "the setting is cool, the map's cooler, and no other battle royale has first-person shooting this good or as deep a focus on team play." Read our in-depth hands-on here, and check out our guide to Apex Legends' launch characters and a breakdown of its F2P cosmetic microtransactions.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.