Everything we know about Horizon in Apex Legends

Horizon apex legends
(Image credit: Respawn Entertainment)

Who is Apex Legends Horizon? While Respawn Entertainment has been careful not to reveal too much about the mysterious new character, leaks and the recent Champion Edition trailer tease the next legend to enter the Apex Games in Season 7. Horizon first introduced herself by dishing out a few challenges for us to complete, but we know a lot more about her now that we've seen her story trailer, "Promise".

Horizon looks to be a smart cookie, using fancy space crystals to manipulate gravity in interesting ways. While we can only speculate about her abilities at the moment, the challenges she's set may hint at her true capabilities. Here's everything we know about Apex Legends Horizon, when she may arrive, and how to get the gravity lift keycard to complete her challenges.

Apex Legends Horizon: When will the good doctor join the Apex Games?

Respawn has officially announced that Horizon is launching alongside Apex Legends Season 7 on November 4. That date coincides with the launch of the game on Steam, as well.

Watch Horizon's story trailer, "Promise"

apex legends horizon

(Image credit: Respawn Entertainment)

The new Stories From The Outlands video, Promise, introduces us to Horizon, a brilliant scientist that goes on a dangerous journey into space to secure an advanced power source that'd save her planet. She finds it, but is soon betrayed by her partners and left stranded in the orbit of a star.

In true Interstellar fashion, Horizon uses the powerful crystal tech to create a warp portal back home, only to find that 87 years had passed on her planet. Her son now grown old and gone, this is where Horizon enters the world of Apex.

Apex's new map also appears to be Horizon's home

apex new map

(Image credit: Respawn Entertainment)

Introduced in the Apex Legends Season 7 launch trailer, the next Apex map matches the location that Horizon returns to at the end of the "Promise" character cinematic. This is supported by the fact that Horizon is already familiar with the location when Rampart and Mirage arrive in the launch trailer.

Apex Legends Horizon challenges: How to get a gravity lift keycard

To learn more about Horizon, pay close attention to the menu screen when you launch Apex Legends. A small box will appear on screen, and you'll hear a voice recording from an 'unknown' character asking you to meet them at the Firing Range.

Select the Firing Range game mode from the menu in the bottom-left of the lobby screen and launch it. Slide down the slope as usual and walk over to the monitor on the right side of the range. Press E to interact with it. You then watch a video feed of what looks to be an extreme close-up of some sort of strange contraption, or weapon.

Horizon outlines that she's collecting data on the Apex Games, and she's also keen to learn more about you, too. So, if you complete her list of diagnostic challenges there's a reward in it for you.

'A Wee Experiment' Challenges 

You can take a look at your new objectives by opening the Challenges tab, found by clicking on the Season 6 icon at the top of the screen. Here are the 'A Wee Experiment' challenges:

  • Gravity Lift keycard requirement 1: Deal 10 damage while mid-air.
  • Gravity lift keycard requirement 2: Get 10 knockdowns.
  • Gravity lift keycard requirement 3: Outlive 120 opponents.

Each challenge is also worth 5,000 CP. Once you've completed all three challenges, Horizon will ask you to meet her back at the Firing Range again. Head to the monitor and activate it to access another video feed, and retrieve the gravity lift keycard.

Check in on your challenges once more to find two new objectives on the list:

  • Activate the gravity lifts in Refinery and Skyhook on World's Edge.
  • Activate the gravity lifts in Airbase and Repulsor Station on Kings Canyon.

The gravity lifts are easy to spot in these locations, just keep an eye out for a metal box with a green 'Access' screen displayed on its side. I've also marked them on the maps above to help you locate them quickly.

Press E to activate the gravity lift in each zone, and feel free to use them to your advantage. By walking into the gravity lift beam, your legend is slowly lifted into the air so that they can hover mid-air, or hop onto nearby platforms/roofs.

Once you've activated all four gravity lifts, head back to the Firing Range once more to check in with your mysterious new friend. You know what to do, interact with the big screen to start the feed. It's here that she introduces herself as Dr. Mary Somers, who will be known as 'Horizon' in the Apex Games.

'A Wee Experiment' rewards

Here are the 'A Wee Experiment' rewards:

  • Badge: Horizon's Test Subject (usable with any legend)
  • Gun Charm: 'NEWT'

(Image credit: Respawn Entertainment)

Apex Legends Horizon abilities

We don't know Horizon's abilities officially yet, but reliable Apex dataminer, Shrugtal, has a few ideas that appear to be supported by the Season 7 launch trailer. According to code fragments lifted from the game, here are Horizon's speculated abilities:

Tactical

  • Repulsor: Elevates or displaces players near point of contact.

Passive

  • Soft Landing: Avoid stuns after falling, and gain a beneficial buff on landing.

Ultimate

  • Black Hole: Pulls in and damages nearby enemies.

Considering Shrugtal's accuracy in predicting the Apex Legends bunkers schedule and their contents, along with other leaks unearthed in the past, I'd say these speculated abilities give us a good indication of what to expect.

Since outlining these abilities, Shrugtal has also tweeted that Horizon's tactical ability 'Repulsor' works similarly to activating the gravity lifts at the end of the 'A Wee Experiment' challenges (above). This allows the entire squad to use the beam to hover in the air or access a nearby high ledge that would usually be harder to reach. We get a look at this Horizon ability in the Season 7 trailer and, yep, it's pretty much identical to the challenge.

Horizon's speculated passive sounds interesting as it makes use of the fact that legends cannot take fall damage in Apex. Rather than deplete your health, falling from a great height slows you down instead. Having a character that won't be negatively impacted by falling sounds promising, and I'm hoping that if she does receive a landing buff that it'll increase her speed. Her proposed ultimate also sounds useful, especially in close-quarters combat.

Apex Legends Horizon trailer

While we see more of Horizon in her story trailer, she also gets a special mention in the Apex Legends Champion Edition trailer. From the video, you can just about make out the new legend's outline standing in front of the Firing Range—another clue that you can start working on the challenges I mentioned above. While it's difficult to make out, you can also spot her on the banner hanging behind the characters at the end of the video.  

How to unlock Horizon in Apex Legends

It's highly likely that Respawn Entertainment will offer players similar options for unlocking Horizon to previous seasons. Usually, new legends can be bought with 12,000 Legend Tokens, or 750 Apex Coins. Legend Tokens can be earned by playing the game and levelling up. Alternatively, you can buy 1,000 Apex Coins for $9.99/£7.99.

Horizon will also be available as part of the new Apex Legends Champion Edition available when Season 7 launches. The Apex Legends Champion Edition costs $39.99 and includes:

  • Nine characters: Caustic, Mirage, Octane, Wattson, Crypto, Revenant, Loba, Rampart, and the Season 7 Legend (Horizon)
  • Seven exclusive Legendary items: 'Risen Queen' Wraith skin, 'Forged Knight' Revenant skin, 'Hallowed Spirit' Crypto skin, 'Curse of the Awaken' Triple Take skin, 'Slayer’s Lancer' Flatline skin, 'Jaded Myth' Sentinel skin, and 'Emperor Nessy XIV' Gun Charm.
  • 1,000 Apex Coins.
Emma Matthews

As PC Gamer's guides writer, Emma is usually juggling several games at once. She loves competitive first-person shooters like CS:GO and Call of Duty, but she always has time for a few rounds of Hearthstone. She's happiest when she's rescuing pugs in Spelunky 2.