Apex Legends Season 25 sees fan-favorite mode return after two years away

The highlight of Apex Legends Season 25 is undoubtedly its suave, superstar archer Sparrow – its first new legend in over a year. However, Season 25 also contains something we’ve been waiting even longer for. Returning as a limited-time mode, Apex Legends Arenas is coming back after a two-year absence.

It was teased a couple of days ago, but now it’s official – Apex Legends is dragging its beloved Arenas mode out of retirement. Just in case you’ve forgotten about Arenas, or you’ve only hopped on the Apex bandwagon recently, it takes some inspiration from FPS games like Valorant and Counter-Strike. It’s a 3v3 round-based mode with 30-second buy phases between each round, where you can spend points on armor, new guns, and abilities. You win a round by simply eliminating all three players on the enemy team – there’s no additional objective like planting a bomb or capturing a zone, it’s just a straight up deathmatch.

Arenas was introduced all the way back in Season 9 of Apex as a permanent game mode, with the hopes that it would attract new players to the game and give existing battle royale grinders a change from the last-team-standing action. It also got its own ranked mode to try and establish it as a second core, competitive experience. However, in February 2023 at the end of Season 15, Arenas was removed and we’ve not seen it since.

Returning next week for the start of Season 25 as an LTM, the wait of more than two years to play Arenas again is almost over. Respawn says that it won’t be exactly how you remember it, though. For a start, all the new weapons, legends, and features that have been added to Apex since Arenas went dark will make the experience feel fresh. But the main difference is that it’s now just a simple race to be the first team to win three rounds – there’s no need to win by two clear rounds. Health items will also be available to grab at the start of each round for free, rather than as items you have to spend points on during the buy phases, putting more emphasis on upgrading your arsenal.

While Arenas will begin as a 3v3 mode when Season 25 launches, Respawn says that it will evolve into “a 1v1 variant” called Arena Duels midway through the season.

Apex Legends Arenas mode returns at the start of Season 25 on Tuesday, May 6.

As mentioned, the new season also introduces the new legend Sparrow, alongside updates to the Bocek Bow weapon and a small rework of Pathfinder’s abilities, so there’s plenty to dive into. If it’s not enough to tempt you back or keep you sticking with Apex, check out some more amazing battle royale games and free PC games that we wholeheartedly recommend playing.

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