Apex Legends datamines uncover wall running, NPCs and flamethrowers

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There was a lot to dig through after the last update.

Last week's Apex Legends update has been keeping the game's diligent dataminers extremely busy. The fruits of their recent labours are numerous, from the possible addition of wall running to more evidence of NPCs. 

An earlier datamine also uncovered mention of NPCs, though in that instance they were connected to the rumoured survival mode, apparently serving as its audience, cheering and booing the players as they fight for the crowd's entertainment. This leak, from RealApexLeaks, suggests that these NPCs will be able to attack, be part of a fireteam, and perform executions. They appear to have names, too, like 'Spider' and 'Flyer'. 

It's not entirely clear what role they'll serve, though they could be bots that cover empty spots in teams, perhaps if a player leaves mid-game. Maybe we'll even get squads of NPCs—a PvE-style threat to keep players on their toes. With additional modes being rumoured, they might not even feature in the standard battle royale mode. 

Another datamine mentions changes to the time of day. While it's been described as a "night mode" by the dataminers, it looks like it could also be a day and night cycle, with the map transforming as the match progresses. I quite like the idea of everyone jumping in the middle of the day, but as the body count rises, visibility starts to drop and things become increasingly tense. Though I admit have enough trouble playing in broad daylight. 

Next to mechs, wall running is probably the feature from Titanfall that I miss the most. You can climb, run and slide your way across the map quickly, but it's not quite as liberating as parkour. According to datamined details received by Gaming Intel, wall running could be coming to the battle royale. 

Vertical and horizontal wall running are both mentioned in the files, along with certain limitations. The datamine doesn't tell us if this will be a character-specific ability or if everyone will be able to do it, like sliding for an impossibly long time.  

It looks like new weapons could be on their way soon, too. A line regarding a flamethrower showed up, as well as remote turrets. Neither of them sound like the regular weapons you can loot, so maybe they'll be tied to abilities? The datamine doesn't give us much to go on, unfortunately. 

None of these things have been announced or teased by Respawn yet, and while earlier datamines have revealed things that were eventually added, there's a lot more that we're still waiting on. Some of these things could be imminent, or they could get cut before they ever appear. 

Fraser Brown
Fraser Brown
Online Editor

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.