Apex Legends, a new free-to-play shooter, is EA's answer to Fortnite

EA has surprised many with the sudden announcement of Apex Legends, a new free-to-play battle royale shooter that provides the publisher a game to compete with Fortnite and PUBG, two of the most successful IPs in recent history.

Developed by Respawn Entertainment and set in the Titanfall universe, Apex Legends is a squad-based battle royale shooter where teams of three go up against squads of 57 other players to try and come out on top.

What makes Apex Legends different than Fortnite and its ilk is that each player will take on one of eight classes, each represented by a unique character. (Think Fortnite mixed with Overwatch and you’ll be on the right track.)

Battle royale, Titanfall (but no titan) Style

Like Fortnite, you and your squad will have to wander the battlefield looking for loot while taking care not to attract the attention of the game's other players.

What’s strange about the game, however, is that despite being set in the Titanfall universe, players won’t be able to get into any mechs – news that likely ruffle a few feathers of franchise fans. Ditto with other signatures of the series, like wallrunning.

Reports have also begun to pop up on other sites that Apex Legends has completely replaced a third Titanfall game – according to Kotaku, Titanfall 3 isn't currently in development and Apex Legends is what we're getting instead.

The game was kept well under wraps during development and was only unveiled for the first time privately to a select group of journalists at an LA event last week. For the rest of us folks, though, the game was both announced and released today for PC, PS4 and Xbox One. It's free to play – what's stopping you?