It begins. In familiar Fortnite fashion, the first news of the game’s future arrived throughout Monday night, not via official channels, but via the army of celebrity YouTubers and specialist leak accounts spread across social media. Rumours suggested the game may launch at any point in the next few hours.
Then we got the cinematic trailer for what will be known as Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 1, showing four new characters arriving at dawn on a brand new island, featuring a beach area and gloop-spewing power plant. At the close of the trailer, the battle bus arrives, filled with familiar superstars from the game’s previous seasons, including our own personal favourite, Cuddle Team Leader.
Also leaked online was a new Battle Pass trailer showing a fresh range of weapons and a new in-game levelling up system in which players are awarded medals for carrying out tasks such as surviving into the Top 50 players and making head shots – these medals are collected on a punchcard which no doubt unlocks items. This trailer also shows players hopping across the landscape on pogo sticks. Yes, there are going to be pogo sticks.
As from right now, the new update is downloadable and a text intro tells us that the Visitor managed to stop the destruction of the universe at the last moment. Players are then dropped straight into a live game, allowing them to explore the map, opening up and revealing new sections as they go.
We’ve only had a few minutes play but it’s clear the landscape features remixed versions of classic areas such as Risky Reels and Pleasant Park, as well as totally new discoveries such as Craggy Cliffs, a small town with a range of olde worlde buildings and takeaways, and Sweaty Sands, a hotel and apartment complex complete with rooftop tanning areas. We’ve already had a swim in a spa pool, sped around in a motorboat, found a fishing rod and seen a lighthouse on a distant shoreline. We noticed that the Playground and Creative modes have also been updated.
So we’re back in Fortnite again, sooner than expected, and with an impressively stable server experience. There’s a lot to discover in this new if familiar environment, and fans will perhaps be relieved that this isn’t a total reimagining of the beloved Fortnite world with its fluffy trees, rolling hills and eccentric architecture. It will be interesting to see how the new systems work, and how Fortnite Chapter 2 deals with the problem of rivals such as Apex Legends, which brought in the ability to revive downed teammates, putting Epic Games on the back foot. For Chapter 2, Fortnite is adding bandage bazookas, which you can fire at team mates to heal them, and the ability to carry knocked teammates to safety, adding new strategic elements to those frantic gun fights.
Other features we’re yet to see include hiding locations such as haystacks and dumpsters, allowing you to leap out on unsuspecting foes, and explosive gas tanks and barrels, to take out enemies when you don’t have grenades. Most interesting is the addition of a weapon upgrade bench so you can tweak your guns with resources discovered during play.
Right now, as we charge across a hillside trading gunfire with a man dressed as a golden medieval knight carrying a submachine gun, what’s most striking is that this is very much Fortnite, just in a nice new playground, with fresh rides and the odd surprise. In other words, everything we wanted.
