Apex Legends’ first season five teaser may be related to the battle royale’s first map. A mysterious keycard in World’s Edge points players toward Kings Canyon. This is only the beginning of a series of hints in the build-up to Apex’s next season.
The Easter egg was concealed in The Dome, an unpopular drop spot in World’s Edge. The mysterious keycard bears the logo of Titanfall’s ARES Division, which was responsible for experimenting on Wraith in Apex lore.
Other than the ARES logo, the keycard also displays an “Access Granted” message. Interacting with it causes the legend to pick it up as if it were a player banner and also displays a different message.
“More sub-level rooms,” the keycard reads. “Connections? Where? Ground level entry: Singh Labs.” Singh Labs is an area that was added to Kings Canyon during season two and plays an important role in Wraith’s backstory.
At the end of the Voidwalker animated short, Wraith escaped the facility and emerged in Kings Canyon, still undergoing construction for the Apex Games. As part of Wraith’s Town Takeover, Respawn incorporated the Singh Labs POI into the map—the same laboratory that imprisoned Wraith.
Singh Labs is an accessible location in Kings Canyon. Harkening back to Apex‘s original map makes sense because the arena made its way into map rotation for casual matches and is the only playable map in competitive modes.
Despite the clear reference to Singh Labs and Kings Canyon, the significance of the keycard is still a mystery. But it’s likely part of a series of teasers that will build upon Apex’s lore in the run-up to the game’s fifth season.
Shrugtal, one of Apex’s most prolific data miners, uncovered hints to a total of seven phases of the teaser—and there will be more keycards in the future, according to him. “There’s going to be three of these things. One for each panel. One in each phase 1 – 3,” he tweeted.
It’s unclear if players will have to collect the three keycards to gain access to the next phases of the teaser, but it wouldn’t be the first time Respawn sent players scrambling around the map looking for hints. Apex’s classic Nessie Easter egg forced players to collect 10 plushes scattered over Kings Canyon to reveal a gargantuan Loch Ness Monster on the edge of Swamps.
The keycards, however, are likely just the beginning of the build-up to Apex’s fifth season. Data miners uncovered the model and animations for Apex’s possible next legend, Loba, and suspect that she may make an appearance before season five’s official debut.
