Titanfall 2 has surged in popularity on Steam, achieving a new peak player count of nearly 17,000 over the weekend, and it might be thanks to who the new Apex Legends character is.
Valkyrie, also known as Kairi Imahara, was introduced in the latest Stories from the Outlands animated short from Respawn Entertainment. The start of the short shows the character kneeling over a wrecked helmet as she is overcome with emotion, and the events flash backwards and forwards between Valkyrie's childhood and her career as a smuggler. It turns out she is the daughter of Viper, a member of the mercenary collective called the Apex Predators. Kuben Blisk was their leader, with Slone, Kane, Ash, Richter, and Viper as secondary antagonists that Jack Cooper would encounter and eliminate over the course of Titanfall 2. Personally speaking, every single one of these Stories from the Outlands releases convinces me more that the studio should dedicate a team to a TV show about the battle royale. Check out the short here.
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When Blisk and Valkyrie meet again in the present, it appears that she wants to kill him for the role he played in her father's death. However, she chooses to spare him instead, joining the Apex Games to change her stars and continue Viper's legacy. A close shave for the villain, I'll say. Imaginably, nostalgia for Titanfall 2 spurred plenty of people who watched the short to install and play the classic mech-based shooter, enlivening the game and surpassing its previous record and then some. In June 2020, its peak player count was 13,427 and the peak player count in April 2021 was 16,598. Not bad. Of that, a significant proportion could have been new players because the game is on sale through Steam right now, and it's the dictionary definition of a steal.
Right, I know you're wondering, so I'll pose the question for you. How likely is it that Titanfall 3 is in development? Earlier this year, EA shared that the buck stops with Respawn Entertainment, in fact. "That team will determine what the future holds for Apex and Titanfall," explained chief studios officer Laura Miele. "I don't believe in directing or telling games teams what to create, it has to come from the player community, and the inspiration and motivation of developers."
Featured Image Credit: Respawn Entertainment, EATopics: News, Respawn Entertainment, Apex Legends, EA