Apex Legends’ new hero Newcastle is the savior the game needs

polygon.com:

Apex Legends’ newest playable hero, Newcastle, is a departure from earlier Legends in two areas: First, that he’s a defensive Legend, a type currently outnumbered 2:1 by offensive types on the Apex roster. And second, that the defense he supplies is less about his personal protection, and more about keeping his team safe.

Devan McGuire, a Respawn Entertainment designer responsible for Newcastle’s kit, explained in a media deep dive last week that Newcastle evolved from a prototype the team had sketched out in 2020, realizing that their lineup didn’t have many defensive types. But that kit, called Axiom, stayed on the drawing board because developers felt “it was a pretty selfish kit overall, and didn’t really take into account any of the team aspects.”

But when the writing team reached out about their plans to bring in Jackson Williams, the brother of Bangalore, as a playable character, McGuire spotted an opportunity to rework that Axiom Legend kit, and infuse it with a little more purpose.

“Jackson was meant to be more of a protector to his family, to his squad, bring them home,” McGuire said. “And that aspect of valor and heroism, from that protector, mixed with the shielded elements of the kit that was on the table, created this fantasy that really, really clicked, and the idea of a knight in Apex was something that we realized just made so much sense.”

All of that informs the Passive, Tactical, and Ultimate skill that Newcastle brings to the Apex Games. Fans have already seen the Stories from the Outlands cinematic explaining Jackson Williams’ personal background and how he adopted the mantle of Newcastle, and why he’s in the arena. McGuire’s preview session explained what he’ll be doing there.

“This guy needed to be