Apex Legends Hardcore Royale: Everything to know about the upcoming game mode, release date, and more

To celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year, Apex Legends will be releasing the Celestial Sunrise Collection Event on January 24, 2023, along with a brand new game mode.

Called Hardcore Royale, the upcoming LTM is a brand new take on Apex Legends' battle royale formula. It will feature major gameplay tweaks as players will be required to use their game knowledge and intuition to the fullest if they wish to be crowned the Apex Champions.

Commemorating the Year of the Rabbit, the Celestial Sunrise Collection Event will also be offering 24 limited-time in-game cosmetics, the reactive Jadeite Retribution Peacekeeper skin, an updated Store tab with bundles and fa-favorite skins, an unlockable Reward Track, and much more.

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All you need to know about the Hardcore Royale game mode in Apex Legends Celestial Sunrise Collection Event

Apex Legends is well-known for its fast-paced action and adrenaline-pumping combat in a team-based battle royale formula that takes place in the Titanfall universe. With the release of the Celestial Sunrise Collection Event, Apex Legends is introducing Hardcore Royale LTM, which, as the name suggests, will take the game's difficulty up a notch.

Unlike Takeover Events, which replace the normal Battle Royale game modes, Hardcore Royale will be a separate, limited-time offering that will only be playable during the collection event. Like Ranked, it will be accessible to players whose account level is 20 and above.

The brand new LTM will be available from January 24 until February 7, and will introduce the following changes and gameplay tweaks to Apex Legends' battle royale:

1) Limited HUD

The Limited HUD footage from the Celestial Sunrise event trailer (Image via EA)

Apex Legends' detailed and informative HUD is a crucial aspect of the game. Without it, players will be missing out on a lot of important details, such as their and their teammates' health and armor levels, the minimap and ring location, the number of players and squads left, equipped health item, and a lot more.

A few features that will be visible, as per the trailer, are the ultimate and tactical ability's status. Without a proper HUD, players would be required to rely on their intuition and game knowledge a lot more often.

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2) White armor only

Hardcore Royale will only feature White Armor (Image via EA)

The introduction of Evo Armor was a welcome change in Apex Legends, replacing standard variant and allowing players to level up their gear as they did more damage during their match.

With Hardcore Royale, the classic Level 1 White Armor will be the only available variant in the game mode. It will not evolve and will only protect players from 50 damage. This change will significantly reduce the TTK and make combat survivability much more difficult.

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3) No helmets

Helmets will be removed from in Hardcore Royale(Image via EA)

Helmets in Apex Legends are often overlooked, except for the Level 4 Gold variant, which reduces players' tactical and ultimate countdowns. While they don't enhance shield health, they are responsible for significantly reducing headshot damage.

Hardcore Royale will completely remove helmets from its matches. This means headshots will be more impactful in gunfights and players with superior aim will be rewarded more often.

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4) Armor won’t spawn in Deathboxes (No armor swapping)

Hardcore Royale will not spawn armor in deathboxes (Image via EA)

Armor Swapping is a well-known trick used by veteran players where they often swap out their armor for a better one or one with less damage, taken from deathboxes. This often comes in handy when they are in-between gunfights and cannot afford to recharge their shield, saving crucial seconds and even gaining the upper hand.

Hardcore Royale restricts this trick by not spawning armor in any deathbox, whether teammate's or foe's, requiring you to rely only on recharging through shield cells, shield batteries, or a Pheonix Kit.

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5) Ring starts at max Damage

The ring will do max damage in Hardcore Royale (Image via EA)

The ring in Apex Legends is a lot more forgiving than other battle royale titles, providing decent visibility and less health reduction. The introduction of Hardcore Royale, however, will be bad news for anyone caught outside, as they will be dealt with the max ring assault, a brutal 25 damage per tick, directly to their health.

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Apex Legends Season 15 Eclipse is available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Nintendo Switch.