If you have children of a certain age who play Fortnite, you may well have recently been asked whether they can play Apex Legends.
Or, if your console doesn’t limit games by age rating, you may have noticed them playing a new game.
On the face of it, it looks like a similar game. You fly down to an arena and do battle with 60 other players to me the last team standing. Your children will tell you it’s much more different than that.
But what they may not be so up to speed on is why the game has a PEGI 16 ratings, as opposed to Fortnite’s PEGI 12.
To be able to make an informed decision about when your child is ready to play Apex Legends, you also need to understand how the online play works and how to set this up safely for your family.
It’s also important to understand how much it costs, as it’s free to play but has in-game purchases. And, as always, there’s some excellent information provided by the PEGI examiners report.
To save you time hunting around for the information you need, here’s my guide to everything you need to know to get the most out of this popular new game.
1. Rating
In the UK and Europe, PEGI rate Apex Legends suitable for those 16 and older because it features sustained depictions of violence towards human characters.
The VSC expand the rating in their examiner’s report which states: “Players can use a range of modern military weapons such as pistols, sniper rifles, automatic guns, frag grenades and knives.
Successful hits from a firearm will degrade the health a character, indicated by some splattering of blood. Once this reaches a critical point, they will become immobile.
Finisher cut scenes provide the best examples of realistic looking violence, although powerful looking the effects are not classed as very strong violence.
2. Themes
Different cultural sensitivities compare the violence in Apex Legends and Fortnite differently. In the US it gets the same 13+ rating as Fortnite, while in the UK and Europe it gets 16+.
Beyond the player actions that trigger these ratings, Apex Legends goes to darker places that Fortnite.
There are the finisher moves that specifically execute defenceless enemies.
There are also other special moves that use chemical gas attacks on multiple enemies before finishing them off.
3. In-Game Purchases
Apex Legends is free to download and start playing, meaning that no purchase password is required from parents. As signified in the ratings the game includes purchases.
These purchases range from £7.99 to £79.99. While this money will only unlock cosmetic improvements, it is also a way to gain access to all the playable characters in the game more quickly.
Apex Packs that can be earned in the game or purchased with money, offer a “loot box” style chance to win items of varying rarity.
This is not classed as gambling by the Gambling Commission in the UK as these items don’t have any monetary value outside the game.
4. Online Play
Apex Legends is, by its battle royale nature, an online game. It’s enjoyable because of the competitive play with 60 other players.
This means that there is some pressure to play at a certain time when friends are online. It also means that quitting in the middle of a game is detrimental to your teammates.
Players communicate with each other with headphones and mics. This audio interaction is not covered by PEGI ratings, so although the game isn’t rated for profanity, its online nature could expose younger players to offensive language from strangers via the voice or on-screen text chat.
Although you don’t hear opponents talking, communicating with teammates is an important, and enjoyable, part of the game but does mean that by default it allows you to talk to strangers.
However, Apex Legends offers a new way to communicate with teammates without voice, by triggering a “ping” about items found or enemies shot. This makes it possible to play without talking to strangers.
If your child is playing with strangers in their team, you can mute them in the inventory screen during play. On consoles, players can join a lobby of friends before they play to permanently mute players, not in their group, who they don’t know.
5. Alternative Games
If Apex Legends is rated to old for your child, the following games offer a more age-appropriate alternative:
Minecraft Server Games (PEGI 7+)
Roblox – Phantom Forces (PEGI 7+)
Splatoon 2 (PEGI 7+)
Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 (PEGI 12+)
Fortnite Battle Royale (PEGI 12+)
Overwatch (PEGI 12+)
Further advice on gaming for parents can by found in Taming Gaming, which is coming soon.
