Apex Legends devs reveal battle royale almost had bouncy-ball shotgun The Loadout The Loadout Apex Legends devs reveal battle royale almost had bouncy-ball shotgun Apex Legends is full of fantastic guns, but the developers have revealed that there are some crazier prototype weapons that never quite made the final cut Kyle Wilson Published: Sep 22, 2022 06:46 ET Apex Legends Whether you're personally a fan of Apex Legends or not, the recent Beast of Prey collection event is proof that Respawn Entertainment's free-to-play shooter is one of the best battle royale games ever. However, there's always room for improvement and it's clear that the developers behind this competitive FPS game are always trying to find ways to build on the experience available. Why are we saying that? Well, Apex Legends' developers have been talking about prototype weapons online and, frankly, they just sound a little bonkers. During a Reddit AMA where Apex Legends' developers talked about "weapons and legends", senior game designer Eric Canavese shared some insight into a handful of prototype weapons that never quite made it to the battle royale – and one of those was a shotgun with bouncing pellets. Explaining this concept, Canavese detailed that "[Respawn Entertainment] prototyped a shotgun where each of the pellets was basically a bouncy ball… it was pure chaos. Each bounce reduced the damage of the pellet and it was designed to be sort of like a flushing out tool." While this does sound like quite a lot of fun, and quite a lot like Maggie's Wrecking Ball ultimate ability, Canavese explained that "taking bullet damage from enemies you cannot see yet felt unfair." So, they ended up scrapping it after a couple of "pretty hectic" internal playtests. However, this isn't the only prototype weapon Canavese detailed in his response to a question asking about the "craziest weapon ideas" Respawn Entertainment came up with for Apex Legends. He also talked about an "early iteration" of the Rampage LMG that would throw thermite wherever you were shooting Comment from discussion RV-Eric's comment from discussion "[AMA] Let's Talk Weapons and Legends!". "One very early iteration of the Rampage lit people on fire and allowed you to "paint thermite" wherever you shot… But, we found layering in shooting the ground people walked on to maximise their panic and your own area control was just too much – in a number of ways." While it's a shame that this never made it to the final game, we can see why – and it's clear that the link between the Rampage LMG and the Thermite grenades wasn't completely severed. Would that feature make you reconsider Rampart's place in the Apex Legends tier list? We're not so sure, but it's certainly an exciting idea. More from The Loadout Here’s when Apex Legends’ Gun Run returns in Fight or Fright event This Week in Apex Legends news: rockets, roller coasters, and ranked Apex Legends Season 14 trailer scopes in on Vantage's kit and story Apex Legends Season 14 release time - when does Hunted begin? Apex Legends’ Vantage makes you a better sniper in more than one way Apex Legends might be getting a heavy rocket launcher in the future Kyle Wilson If Kyle isn't writing about upcoming PS5 games, he's playing them. Kyle is currently excited about Overwatch 2, Apex Legends, Call of Duty Warzone, and Fortnite. Popular now Orianna has been disabled for League of Legends Worlds 2022 The FIFA 23 meta has quickly become all about Lengthy players Blizzard assures Overwatch 2 players their OW1 skins aren’t lost Network N Media earns commission from qualifying purchases via Amazon Associates and other programs. We include affiliate links in articles. View terms. Prices correct at time of publication. More stories Odoamne says Rogue is taking LoL Worlds 2022 “one game at a time” Best Warzone Loadout of the Week – battle with Modern Warfare’s best The LoL Worlds 2022 final is headed to a cinema near you More from The Loadout Follow us for daily videogame news on Facebook, Twitter, Steam, and Google News. Apex Legends ranks - RP, Season 14 ranked splits, and more Apex Legends patch notes - what's new in Season 14? The best battle royale games Free shooting games Best PS5 games Best Xbox games