Young players have to be strong these days: The USK has not given the battle royale shooter a youth approval. This means that Apex Legends is officially intended for players aged 18 and over. The shooter is basically not that brutal: neither blood is used excessively, nor do virtual body parts fly through the arenas. Nevertheless, the testing authority sees isolated scenes from Apex Legends critically.
A single feature is too brutal
Apex Legends is colourful, not as colorful as its competitor Fortnite, but colorful enough to pass as a casual shooter. The degree of violence is not exaggerated, but Apex Legends looks like the adult role model of the genre leader, whose brightly colored cartoon look distracts from the actually serious game content - namely the elimination of other players. While Fortnite Battle Royale was released by the USK from the age of 16, the testing authority recently denied Apex Legends youth release. A single game feature is to blame for this: the "Finishing Moves", also known as executions in German.
Knocking out an enemy player, then standing in front of them and pressing a button can trigger an execute ability that lasts for a few moments but then surely kills the enemy. The USK considers this approach to be brutal and realistic, also due to the graphic implementation. Due to the "celebrated" staging of the executions, they are subsequently played down, so that negative effects on older young people cannot be completely ruled out.
At least that's what our colleagues at Gamestar on request from the USK.
If the developers at Respwan Entertainment had decided not to implement the finishers, USK approval from the age of 16 would have been more than likely.
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