Just a few days ago, Apex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment released a new character named Octane to the battle royale, and some keen-eyed fans have noticed that the backstory of this new character drew inspiration from the Titanfall 2’s speedrunning community.

An individual known by the nickname Cash Mayo holds the current world record for speedrunning Titanfall 2’s Gauntlet in just 12 seconds. To achieve such an impressive feat, this person calculated and used frag grenades at the correct moment to give themselves speed boosts when needed. Of course, aside from that trick, a lot of precise movements were required to finish the run in such a short time. Check out the video below to witness the making of this record with your own eyes.

It seems Respawn Entertainment was impressed by this too, as the studio decided to use it as an inspiration to write Octane’s backstory.

In the official description of Octane, we know that he is the heir to the Silva Pharmaceuticals and as a result had a luxurious upbringing, never lacking for anything in his life. Thus, he found entertainment in performing dangerous stunts, then record and share them for others to watch. One day, he decided to set a new record for a Gauntlet by using a grenade to launch himself over the finish line.

That foolish attempt cost Octane his legs, but he then had them replaced with mechanical prosthetics that let him run even faster. The first trailer of Octane has a reference to the Gauntlet speedrun and also a link to Cash Mayo’s run. The link is under a pop-up that reads “What is the gauntlet” that appears at the 12-second mark of Octane’s trailer. Watch it for yourself:

 
Go to the 12-second mark to see a pop-up that links to Cash Mayo's video

Cash Mayo seems pretty glad to know about this, calling Respawn “clever” on reddit. And this person has a point. This is indeed a nice move from Respawn to show appreciation to fans of its games.

Respawn Entertainment has just added a new gun into their game Apex Legends. And of course, this gun looks really cool. This is the first gun added to the game after the release date of the game.

The new gun is called Havoc. This is a rifle that uses energy ammo and has some interactions with the game’s pre-existing mods. Many gamers who have played Titanfall series (also by Respawn Entertainment) believe this Havoc is inspired by the famous Havoc Rifle from the Titanfall series.

Respawn Entertainment started hinting about the new gun through a tweet from Apex Legends’ official Twitter account. Although in the first tweet there was only a 9-second clip with some small images of the gun, the caption of the clip revealed quite a lot about the gun since it said “cry havoc”. Also, some Alex Legends players on Reddit claimed that they hear Bangalore says “If you have a Havoc or a Prowler” when they ping to the select-fire hop-up.

Now the gun has officially been introduced to the game, so we can know for sure how it works. The gun has more than one form of shooting. The Havoc can shoot in fully auto mode and this is the default mode of the gun – Turbocharger mode. This mode uses energy ammo. The second mode of the gun is Selectfire Receiver mode, and in this mode, the Havoc is a single-shot variant that fires like a sniper rifle. This charge beam shot by the Havoc in this mode is hitscan — meaning the shot has no travel time in the game (in other words, the enemies can’t dodge your bullet by quick moves after you have shot). Respawn Entertainment has also post a one-minute clip on a tweet on their official Twitter account.

Like all other Apex Legends weapons, the Havoc has new skins for players to buy or open from Apex Packs. The gun is officially available now in the game on all platforms of the game: PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox One.

According to EA, Respawn, famous FPS game Titanfall 2's developer, is about to release plenty of games before the end of next year. However, Neither EA nor Respawn has affirmed what these games can possibly be.

This announcement was made by Andrew Wilson, CEO of EA, in the middle of a recent quarterly earnings call. In his announcement, Wilson implied that there are "games" set to be released by Respawn "next holiday season". Based on what we have known before, Respawn is currently developing at least 3 titles: a Star Wars entry, a Titanfall entry, and an untitled VR game, so this should be the case.

The information about these games remains ambiguous. However, at E3 2018, Vince Zampella, CEO of Respawn, managed to affirm a couple of hints about Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order. He even implied that the release date of the game is in next year.

Jedi Fallen Order was said to take place during one of the most tragic times in the Star Wars franchise: between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. You will be playing as a Padawan who tries to escape Order 66. Lightsabers should be available weapons, as promised.

Check out the Titanfall 2's trailer below:

Predictions?

Zampella's claim somehow ensures the releasing of at least 1 of 3 possible games that they are launching next year. However, the question if the other 2 are a Titanfall game and an unknown VR game is not answered yet.

He has admitted before that the sales of Titanfall 2 are under expectation. For an explanation, Zampella said that this is because it was released between 2 other opponents, namely Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. If we have to predict, Respawn will learn something and try to avoid releasing the next Titanfall in the busy season. That also means it can be released earlier next year.

Only time will tell then.