Apex Legends took the gaming world by storm when it launched in February, amassing millions of players and briefly becoming the most popular game on Twitch.

The Respawn/EA juggernaut revolutionized the team-oriented Battle Royale genre so much that its biggest competitors were quick to take note and copy the best aspects of it, such as the respawn mechanic.

Faithful to its ever-surprising nature, Apex Legends is now reinventing itself with “The Iron Crown,” a solo game mode you can play for a limited time starting next week.

Next week, only one can reign. 👑 The Iron Crown Collection Event featuring an all-new Solos limited time

mode begins 8/13. pic.twitter.com/8tG4EhIqQf — Apex Legends (@PlayApex) August 6, 2019

What we know about “The Iron Crown” – Apex Legends’ new solo mode

The trailer begins by showing new medieval-themed skins for Lifeline, Bangalore, Mirage, and Bloodhound.

Interestingly, it doesn’t show new gameplay mechanics. The only new element is that it’s every-man-for-himself.

It’s a marked departure from Apex Legends’ team-oriented strategy, and that’s probably the main reason this mode is going to be part of a new event, called the “Iron Crown Collection,” and not a confirmed mainstay for the game.

If “The Iron Crown” succeeds, it would make the case for another mode that fans have been asking from the start, one that would have teams of four players on a bigger map – 100 players at once, classic Battle Royal style.

In any case, Respawn Entertainment needed to swing for the fences. Despite an extremely promising start, Apex Legends has been bleeding players every month, with critics complaining of a lack of meaningful updates.

To this, Respawn Entertainment has responded that the reason why the game isn’t updated as frequently as Fortnite is that they refuse to force crunch time on their employees. That might be a wise long-term strategy, it won’t solve the Apex Legends player exodus right now.

But maybe the new solo mode will.