Apex Legends devs tease “big things” coming for new Kings Canyon hatches

Apex Legends is finally taking a leaf out of Epic’s Fortnite playbook with a series of mysterious new hatches in Kings Canyon in Season 5 ⁠— new additions fans should “definitely” keep their eyes on, Respawn’s Jason McCord has teased.

In the last few years, in-game teasers have become just as much about a marketing push for players as trailers, developer insights, and more. Epic Games has paved the way for constant tweaks in-game to entice hype. As a result, Fortnite and the battle royale genre has become synonymous with the ever-popular ‘in-game teaser.’

There’s a handful of franchises that are buying into it more and more in 2020 as well. Destiny has just begun teasing their big bad guys ahead of Season 11. Riot seems to have followed suit with FPS sensation Valorant. Most recently, Respawn has finally hopped on the bandwagon with the Season 5 hatches.

According to Respawn game director Jason McCord, the Apex Legends development team spent a long time ahead of Season 5 looking for ways to “sprinkle changes through the map” and “add a little fun” to teasers.

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That’s not to say the 2019 release hasn’t had its fair share of massive, fun events. Season 3 completely overhauled the playing field in Apex by shooting the player base to a totally new world. Season 5 has taken us back.

Apex Legends using ‘breadcrumb’ teasers in Season 5

This time though, McCord said in an interview with gaming blog vg247, Respawn were happy to test out more subtle tweaks to drum up hype: “We don’t have to make massive changes everywhere, we can sprinkle these things around.”

Those breadcrumbs have come in the form of a set of mysterious hatches that appeared on Kings Canyon as Apex returned to the original map. One, near the ruins of Skull Town, is accessible in the opening dive. The rest are sealed.

Respawn’s director kept his lips shut about what might be inside the hatches, but it’s obvious “big things” are on their way. He added the devs were “doing something new where we have some stuff that is there, but is not unlocked yet.”

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“We’re going to unlock it at a certain time, that lines up with other stuff that we have coming,” McCord continued. “It also helps the story, right? Players might assume this, but from the dev side, I think it’s interesting… there has always been a concept of hidden things beneath Kings Canyon, back when we were making it in 2018.”

What’s inside the new Kings Canyon hatches?

Luckily, we have already had a peek inside some of the bunkers, thanks to leaks from some of the game’s top data miners. Steer clear from here if you’re avoiding spoilers for the end of Season 5 ⁠— you have been warned!

According to Redditor xKnightress, who revealed the loaded graphics inside the Slum Lakes hatch in a now-deleted post, there’s a huge amount of tunnels and chambers waiting to be explored once the hatch finally does open.

• Read more: 5 best places to land on Kings Canyon in Apex Season 5

This was confirmed by data miner Biast12, who suggested these hatches are “not for the [Broken Ghost] quests,” despite others claiming they are. ILootGames unveiled a new look at the hatches in a May 25 upload too.

Unfortunately, Respawn has yet to officially reveal what’s inside the bunkers. McCord did offer one last comment on the in-game teasers though. He believes it’s going to be “really fun to just start exploring” once Respawn flips the switch.