7 Video Games That Broke Their Own Rules
5. Healing Should Be Difficult (Apex Legends)
From the beginning, one of Respawn's core mantras for Apex Legends was that healing should slow you down, that it should make you an easy target, and that players should think carefully about when they choose to do it.
To that end, they removed a movement technique called "bunny-hopping" - which allowed players to bounce around like a rabbit while popping a shield or a health med - just a few months after the game launched.
But then, when Season 7 rolled around at the end of 2020, the studio seemed to forget about that mantra by launching an insanely powerful Legend called Horizon.
Horizon's tactical ability allowed her to throw down a Gravity Lift that launched her into the air at a high speed, which was useful for dodging enemy fire. Crucially though, the lift gave her enough time to fully heal while using it, meaning that she could max out her HP while being a fast-moving, difficult-to-hit target.
The immediate response to Horizon was that she's broken, and that she desperately needs a nerf, with players rightfully pointing out that other Legends with movement abilities - such as Wraith and Pathfinder - can't heal while using them.
Fortunately, the effectiveness of the Gravity Lift has since been reduced, but Horizon is still a massive contradiction to the way that Respawn intended healing to work.