Infested Olympus: Everything We Know About Apex Legends' New Map

Apex Legends’ newest season, Season 9: Legacy, is quickly approaching. The past few days have overloaded the community with exciting new information. A new Legend, Valk, has been confirmed along with a brand-new weapon, the Bocek Bow, Arena Mode, and a slew of Legend buffs and nerfs. Flying under the radar is the new map update: Infested Olympus. A city that was once pure with beauty is now overrun by weeds, roots, and other natural growth.

So what happened to Olympus? How did it become infested? What will it look like now? Respawn hasn’t disclosed much yet, but there may be a cookie trail of hints we can follow that will reveal more on this mystery.

Olympus Has Fallen?

For now, the only official piece of information we have on Infested Olympus reads, “an infestation has sprung loose, strangling the city with roots and natural growths.”

There’s not much to go on, but famed Apex Legends leakers such as Shrugtal have unveiled some key hints as to what may go down on Olympus in the coming days.

Perhaps the most conclusive piece of evidence is an audio file titled “Arenas_PartyCrashers_AMB_EXT.” You can hear the Turbine point of interest (POI), the nearby waterfall, and some faded music in the short clip. 

The name “PartyCrashers” is what some theorists are really latching onto. As most active players know, the Mirage Voyage ship abandoned Kings Canyon with the release of the Chaos Theory event. Since then, there has been no sign of Mirage’s party ship. Will the party crash on Olympus, bringing the utopian city down with it?

But that’s not the end of it. This theory has some more meat to it, as there are multiple lines in the game files tied to Olympus and labelled with the acronym “MU1” for map update one. Additionally, there is a line that mentions a Season 8 Olympus event set to occur on April 25.

Leaker GarretLeaks opened these files, revealing a picture of massive spaceships in the sky over Olympus. It seems as though some sort of aerial battle or another kind of devastating event will take place in the skies over Olympus. The repercussions of this event may include Olympus's infestation.

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Lastly, another audio file with the name “PhaseRunner_AMB_EXT_SnowGrass” plays some classic storm sounds. Rain, strong winds, thunder, and animal chirps can be heard. This further backs the idea of an Olympus tarnished by destruction.

What Will Infested Olympus Look Like? 

Working off of the short written description of Infested Olympus, this updated version of Olympus will be filled with invasive roots and other forms of natural growth. Think something out of The Last Of Us.

Shrugtal went ahead and brightened up the single image of Infested Olympus provided by Respawn. In it, there is a gigantic hole in the ground. Could this possibly be the crash landing of the Mirage Voyage? Additionally, Grow Towers and Orbital Cannon can be seen overrun by roots and vines, plus Estates is now surrounded by a forest. These POIs are likely to receive significant changes in the Season 9 map update.

Based on this screenshot and the leaked audio files, the centre of Olympus will bear the brunt of the damage. Turbine and Hammond Labs are close to the visible destruction, and the sounds heard in the audio files resemble the Turbine noises and the waterfall above Hammond Labs.

Olympus Vs Infested Olympus  

Olympus overall was a hit. The map is beautiful and a nice change of pace from World’s Edge and Kings Canyon. However, Olympus is not perfect. Even Olympus has its flaws.

Most notably, Olympus is a third-party paradise — especially the centre of the map. Oftentimes starting a fight near Hammond Labs will result in an onslaught of teams jumping into the action. Players could find themselves spending an entire game in this area fighting off hordes of enemies.

This hotspot is made worse by the absolute lack of cover in the area. Hammond Labs and the surrounding area is as open as can be. Players can snipe at each other from hundreds of metres away. It’s not rare to see players scattering like ants through the grassy fields of Olympus in search of any form of cover. Running into Turbine isn’t a real solution either. This POI has four entrance points, meaning third parties can surround you with ease.

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Addressing this flaw in Olympus’s map design may be one of Respawn’s goals with Infested Olympus. Think back to the original World’s Edge. Capital City was by far the hottest spot on the map. Other POIs were neglected in favour of this exciting location. To add more variety to the map, Respawn split Capital City into Fragment East and West. This made sections of the city easier to control and lessen the rampant third-partying.

Similarly, Skull Town became a nuisance on the Kings Canyon map. A third of the lobby would land there and die every match. Respawn got tired of this, so they removed Skull Town completely from the map. The Apex developers love to use these map updates as a way to tweak and perfect the game’s maps.

Finally, Infected Olympus may allow more variety in Legend viability. Right now, Legends such as Wattson are near useless on Olympus. Wattson thrives in tight corridors; something Olympus lacks for the most part. Wattson’s fences do no good in the open fields of Olympus. Changes to Olympus’s overall design may allow previously neglected Legends to shine once again.

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What Map Will Infested Olympus Replace?

Going off of history, Kings Canyon may be the odd map out heading into Season 9: Legacy. World’s Edge took Season 8 off, and Infested Olympus looks to be the feature map of Season 9. Kings Canyon has been the face of Season 8, so it makes sense that Respawn would retire it for a while.

Season 9 will likely consist of a rotation between Infested Olympus and World’s Edge. Unless, of course, Apex Legends introduces a three map rotation for the first time.

With Season 9: Legacy still a few weeks away, Respawn has surely kept the most exciting bits of news under wraps. Apex Legends fans can expect to find out more on April 25 when the Season 8 event goes live and on May 4, the official launch date of Season 9: Legacy.

Images via @Shrugtal | @GarretLeaks | Respawn Entertainment