Apex Legends Dev Explains Why Octane Skins May Never Unmask Him

A Respawn developer has explained why Apex Legends players may never see Octane in battle royale without his mask. However, there might be a way to make amends for those who are desperate.

Ever since Respawn Entertainment included a mugshot of Octavio Silva in Pathfinder’s Quest Book, fans have been waiting to see if the studio will ever add his face to the game via a new cosmetic.

Unfortunately, that may never happen, after the developers admitted that thanks to the mask and the glasses, they never had to make his face, so the technical hurdles of integrating it at this point would be enormous.

Respawn Entertainment’s lead animator Moy Para broke the news to Octane fans waiting to see the adrenaline junkie’s face in the Apex games.

✅ It’s much more practical to put a mask or helmet on a character that already has a face than the other way around. Think of Wraith’s Voidwalker – she could have both since she already had a face setup. Bloodhound or Octane would be VERY challenging 😬 pic.twitter.com/D93AgUfRm3

— Moy Parra 🎮 (@_moyparra) March 17, 2022

The developer has laid out the honest truth about the restrictions preventing Octane’s face from being shown. And even if it were possible, it wouldn’t be what fans expect.

“I get asked all the time when can we have an unmasked skin for Octane?” he said.

“The real challenge is that we never did a facial animation for him because the rig didn’t need a facial component. So he would have a blank face for everything!”

As disappointing as that is, Apex Loremaster-turned-respawn narrative historian Frozenfroh suggested there might be a way to make his face visible despite his limited appearance.

“Sometimes I wonder if that would be feasible if he only briefly showed his face during a special Legend Select animation, putting his mask/goggles on at the end,” they replied.

In fact, this could be a way to add a face to Octane without having to add an insane amount of animation work for a single skin everywhere else.

From the community I can see positive and negative aspects of this approach 😅

— Moy Parra 🎮 (@_moyparra) March 17, 2022

Respawn, at least Parra, were seduced by the idea.

“In fact, this could be a way to add a face to Octane without having to add an insane amount of animation work for a single skin everywhere else,” the developer said.

“From the community, I see positives and negatives of this approach.”

So for now, it seems like Octane’s face won’t be featured in Apex Legends. But if the community has given Respawn enough reason to get its mug, at least in the moments leading up to a match, there’s a chance Octavio’s face will show up to some extent.