The Dark Depths Event brings new cosmetics, a new Special Offer store, and even a new map to Apex Legends, but many players noticed the glaring lack of a Limited Time Mode (LTM). LTMs are many players' favorite aspect of events in the game, and it’s been a long while since there have been events with a focus on multiple LTMs. LTMs were originally a separate game mode, such as Shadow Royale or Winter Express, but now also include Takeovers such as the Rampart Arenas Takeover, or the Ring Fury Escalation Takeover.
Why No Dark Depths LTM?
To understand why there is no LTM for Dark Depths, let’s first take a look at the format of the three-week event. Three-week events began in Season 9: Legacy and always fall at the end of a Season. The three of these events so far have been:
- Thrillseekers Event (Season 9: Legacy)
- Monsters Within Event (Season 10: Emergence)
- Dark Depths Event (Season 11: Escape)
Do Three-Week Events have LTMs?
This question is a bit of a toss-up. The Thrillseekers Event did not have an LTM. That said, while it did have a new Arenas map, the Thrillseekers Event was the first of its kind and was missing a lot of the things present in other three-week events.
The cosmetics were not craftable, they were not put into the Apex Pack loot pool, there weren’t 40 items, and there was no Thrillseekers Event Pack. So, while Thrillseeker had no LTM, it isn’t really a good event to judge it against.
So, next, let’s take a look at the Monsters Within Event. The Monsters Within Event did have an LTM, which might be the main reason players were hoping Dark Depths would follow in its footsteps. That said, let’s look closer at what the LTM’s presence was in Monsters Within.
The LTM was Shadow Royale, a returning LTM that appears every Halloween in Apex Legends*. The mode was not available for the entirety of the event, but only the last week. It is possible that the LTM was only present for the event because of Halloween, and players expect it to return for a holiday rather than it is for the event itself. In that case, since no other yearly LTM overlaps with the Dark Depths, no LTM would present for the Dark Depths event.
*The first Halloween event had a slightly different mode called Shadowfall and it was since replaced with Shadow Royale.
What is the current state of LTMs in Apex Legends?
LTMs have been an almost universally loved part of Apex Legends since they were first introduced via the Voidwalker event in Season 2: Battle Charge with Armed and Dangerous (a Battle Royale mode with only Shotguns and Sniper Rifles). LTMs used to be a lot more common coming to events that they would even come to some Thematic and minor event in bulk, like with the Grand Soirée and September Soirée. Sadly, the last taste of an LTM-packed event that players got went horribly wrong.
The War Games event in Season 8: Mayhem was supposed to have five brand-new LTMs, and technically it did, but three of them had bugs. Auto Banners and Second Chance only ran for a few hours before being removed, and Killing Time never even saw the light of day. This was a big disappointment to many, as those seemed to be the most fun modes in the event. All three of them were never fixed or rereleased. The errors had effectively turned War Games into a two-LTM event that wasn’t very fun.
Separate Mode vs Takeover
LTMs becoming Takeovers, meaning they replace the Trios and Duos queues for their duration, instead of being a separate mode, began with Airdrop Escalation. Airdrop Escalation was an LTM Takeover that was introduced for the Fight Night Collection Event in Season 7: Ascension.
According to the developers, the reason for introducing the Takeover variant of LTMs was to ‘keep the players together,’ as there are two separate queues to matchmake from when the modes are separate. They explained to players that they could create a better experience matchmaking-wise when more players are in the same queue.
After this, the separate mode LTM wasn’t very present for a while, but Shadow Royale and Winter Express still always return as their own thing during their respective holidays.
In the long run, both versions of the LTM have a lot of merit. Some may say they prefer the better matchmaking brought by a Takeover, but honestly, players who don’t want to play an LTM Takeover will just queue into Ranked Leagues instead. So, maybe it isn’t as different as the developers hoped. That said, since Arenas was added in Season 9, the developers also must account for the percentage of their playerbase that is queued into Arenas, rather than Battle Royale.
Additionally, many separate modes and takeovers alike disable the ability to get certain badges or even gain stats (separate mode only), based on if it is much easier to grind in a mode, while others do not.
Related: Rampage and Sentinel weapons temporarily removed from Apex Legends due to exploit
Should Three-Week Events have LTMs?
Now that we have taken a closer look at why Dark Depths may not have an LTM and what LTMs have meant to Apex Legends as a whole: Let’s ask another question. Should three-week events have LTMs? It would be easy to just say, “100% yes”, and we’re going to, but with a little more information on why.
Three-week events may be a new event format, but they still fall under the greater category of Thematic Event, one of the two types of major events, not a minor event. The two major event types are Thematic and Collection.
Every Collection Event in the game has had an LTM. The only two Thematic Events that did not have an LTM before Dark Depths were Thrillseekers, as we mentioned before, and Bloodhound’s The Old Ways event.
Now, since The Old Ways was released with a Town Takeover (Trials) that had a Prowler fighting minigame within it, we can kind of give that one a pass. The Trials Point of Interest (POI) did offer a new game, just not in a conventional way.
Thrillseekers can also get a pass because, as mentioned before, it was an experimental event type at the time. It toed the line between a major and minor event and tried new things.
So, that brings us back to our third LTM-less major event: Dark Depths. It has everything else that the improved three-week event format had with Monsters Within, aside from having an LTM. And honestly, on both a personal level and a professional level, I think it would be better with one. Even if it were just to bring back an old one or add some sort of escalating Arenas takeover if they want to make sure more people are on the new Arenas map, rather in Battle Royale.
LTMs go a long way in bringing joy, fresh experiences, and fun to Apex Legends. At the end of the day, though, it is also possible that the developers know this and aren’t bringing more because they are short-staffed in their game mode design department. So, while Dark Depths is the third major event not to have an LTM, it may also be the last after a new wave of hires. At this point, one can only hope.
The Dark Depths Event runs from Jan. 11 to Feb. 1.
For more Apex Legends content, check out Habitat Arenas map – All Points of Interest (POIs) Apex Legends on Pro Game Guides.
Radiant G! is a game journalist, indie game developer, artist, and writer who currently works freelance in the games industry full-time. He is Pro Game Guides' beat writer for Apex Legends coverage, and also runs his own Apex Legends team called Verve. He is also fiercely committed to diversity, equity and inclusion in the games industry, and helms Diverse Gaming Coalition.