I’m talking about Fortfight.
Fortnite is one of those games I constantly have to defend myself playing, like RuneScape. Or Stadia. Or Destiny 2. Or Neverwinter. Or H1Z1. Come to think of it, I play a lot of games whose very mention causes people to get really aggressive. I guess it comes with the territory of having fantastic taste.
I have played almost every battle royale known to man and Fortnite is the one that keeps me coming back. It’s the shifts in meta that retain that fresh flavor, even though everyone and their father likely has that point in time where Epic jumped the shark in their opinion and ruined a perfect game.
If you haven’t been paying attention to the Fortnite story you may not be aware that Fortnite has a story. Imagine Groundhog Day but everyone is murdering each other. The island exists in a time loop that resets every 22 minutes, and the character skins are all people who were caught in that loop for one reason or another. The thing that powers the loop is the zero point. This chapter has been all about various entities fighting over the zero point; some to steal its power, others wanting to keep it sealed, etc. In the latest season aliens visit the Fortnite island and steal the zero point, sparking an all-out war with the island combatants.
A lot of the prior season has been cleaned up with the new one. Primal and mechanical variants of weapons have been vaulted, as has the mechanic of collecting animal bones and mechanical parts to upgrade guns. Disappointedly so was the shockwave grenade, one of the best weapons for trolling people in late-game. It didn’t do much damage but it would knock people around really far. The harpoon gun is also gone for now, and I’m not happy about that.
Upgrading guns now works on a hybrid system. Upgrade stations are back and cost a disgusting amount of gold bars to upgrade your guns. Maybe Epic noticed how many gold bars people were hoarding and figured the costs evened out. Gold bars still retain between matches. You can also find a new item called “nuts ‘n’ bolts” for upgrading. You can use these to upgrade guns to versions that have previously been vaulted like the rapid fire SMG and the lever action shotgun.
NPC activity this season comes from aliens and the Imagined Order. IO operatives have shown up a lot this chapter and their motivation appears to be protecting the loop by distracting players and stopping people from escaping. This season they are at war with the aliens, but that doesn’t mean they won’t try to kill any players. There are friendly IO agents all over the island that offer quests/weapons, but the guards will shoot players on sight. You can also go and kill Doctor Slone, who may or may not be IO’s new leader.
There are a few new weapons (so far) this season and they are fantastic. The pulse rifle is my favorite, but the rail gun is an absolute beast. It’s a bolt-action energy rifle that takes a second or two to charge the shot, but can pierce buildings to hit people on the other side. I actually got my first victory royale this season by shooting someone through the brick wall they’d created. It’s a hitscan weapon with no falloff. Delicious.
There’s also a recon scanner, a grenade launcher that doesn’t shoot grenades but instead fires devices that pulse and show players and items within a certain radius. It’s the perfect combination with the rail gun if you’re fighting someone holed up in a structure, since you know exactly where they’re hiding and can hit them through the barrier.
The alien spaceships are more of a nuisance than a threat. They can be knocked down three times before exploding, and self-heal if knocked down. While the weapon is useful, flying around in the saucer just makes you a big target to anyone in the area. If you can make use of it, more power to you.
I expect a few things over the course of the season. First that we’re going to get some rotating bosses entering the playfield like we did with the Spire bosses last season. Second that the massive mothership hovering over the island will do something. Destroy an area of the map or remake it into something else. They skipped out on the closing/opening for this season, so hopefully there’s something more planned for later on.
The Rick and Morty stuff can go hike a rock.
MMO Fallout 