Apex Legends’ Olympus redesign is about expanding the map

pcgamesn.com:

Olympus will look worse for wear when Apex Legends’ next season rolls around. Story-wise, Mad Maggie and Eduardo Silva have put the floating landmass through the wringer after a scuffle almost sent it crashing down to earth. This narrative, though, really sits alongside Respawn Entertainment’s decision to give Olympus some much-needed design tweaks.

Level designer Alex Garner explains during a recent panel with the press that the round design of the map was sending too many players towards the centre for combat. Now, when you next touch down in Olympus, you’ll find that the south portion of the map has been expanded to tempt you away from Labs and Estates, which the team hopes will reduce the frequency of spontaneous third-party encounters.

The south side of the map is now the home of the phase driver you’ll recognise from a recent trailer. More than a towering structure, the new point of interest can lead to some good loot if you risk switching it on. Doing so will guarantee one gold-tier reward, though you can only activate it once every 45 seconds. The phase driver is also pretty dang loud, so be sure that everyone will know where you are if you switch it on.

The team also explains that several locations had to be shifted to allow the phase driver to connect to the runner, so existing areas like Solar Array’s, Icarus’, and Bonsai’s platforms have been pushed away from the centre of the map to allow for a new slice of land that hosts the phase driver.

You’ve also got another point of interest called Terminal. It’s an opening in the phase runner tube – don’t worry, it still works fine – that has five entrances and various raised platforms. Garner explains that it’s designed to connect Labs to Bonsai, giving players