“Maybe this will be the perfect time to go back,” I thought, “everyone will be on a level playing field with all the new additions”. I was very wrong. I should have known this from the moment I walked into the lobby and realized I didn’t know how to enter the game.
The ‘Game Mode’ box containing stuff like ‘Solo’, ‘Duos’, ‘Squads’ and the weird special event the day before was just an empty rectangle, none of the aforementioned options there. After about five minutes of searching the menus (remember the font is especially small on Switch) I finally found the option to choose a game mode. I couldn’t believe what I saw.
If, like me, you’ve also had a Battle Bus hiatus in the past few years, you might not have seen the game mode screen for a while, so check out the screenshot above. I was looking for something a bit like a ‘Solo’ match and I came across words I don’t understand, celebrity faces I don’t recognize, and more relationships than an MCU movie. the ending can be dreamed of.
I vaguely remember the announcement that you’ll be able to create your own islands in Fortnite, but I didn’t expect there were too many options out there. I finally found the ‘Battle Royale’ mode in the ‘Popular’ section of the Browse screen. Heaven knows how long I would have looked if I had only begun to glide aimlessly through the overwhelming feeling that hit me upon arrival.
With that first hurdle, I got into a game (after a pretty long load time) and started some games. actually playing. On the surface, thankfully this is still old Fortnite – you drop yourself off on an island with 100 other poor souls, frantically collect the best weapons you can and then start sending your opponents back to the world. be the last to stand. But it didn’t take me long to realize that almost everything else had changed.
In defense of Fortnite, I haven’t kept up with the in-game storyline (yes, there is one) for the past four years, so I had to take a short online refresher course after I realized I wasn’t. know exactly what the location of the map. Things like Dusty Depot, Tomato Town, and Fatal Field are all gone, replaced by similar drop points like Lazy Lagoon, Coney Crossroads, and Rocky Reels. And now the Battle Royal map absolute big.
As it turns out, the original map – known as the Athena Map or Athena Royale – has been blown up and pieced together a few times since I last played. The island we currently find is a combination of several different worlds, all pulled together (I think) and called Asteria (Maybe?).
Either way, I did my first few games as usual: Find a relatively remote spot, eliminate anyone who chooses to land near me, then spend the rest of the game just to cross the storm boundary while trying to avoid as much fighting as possible. I didn’t know where I was most of the time, but going down to the last survivors was still a pretty heart-pounding experience.
What took me a while to understand was the filling material the game became Back in the day, there were weird quests or quests that you might stumble across while playing a match, but now the world is full of XP bonuses, weapon modifiers, ‘Collect points’, gold bars, job offers, NPCs, bonuses, etc. I could go on listing them, but the point is, most of these I have absolutely no idea what to do with them. .
Even what I consider fundamental has changed. Think you know what a chest is? Some of them require the key now. Know how to drive a car? Obviously you’ll have to fill it up with gas. It was still a very fun time, but I can’t help but think that the simplicity of the original “100 players start, one player left” was lost a bit.
But maybe that’s the problem. From my brief return to the game, it’s clear that Battle Royale is no longer Fortnite’s be-all and end. The other game modes, while overwhelming in number, managed to create a foundation for any kind of gameplay experience imaginable. These modes range from standard game modes with a slight twist like ‘No Build’ battles in the same game but (you guessed it) you can’t build to other, less battle-based goals that feel closer The fall boy than any form of online shooter I played years ago.
Fortnite has really become a communication to play the game rather than a game in itself? Maybe. I’m no longer sure what’s going on in 90% of my Battle Royale matches? Sure. But it still gives me a good time, though it’s when I watch Ariana Grande pull her shotgun at Spider-Man before mercilessly plunging his hands into his immaterial corpse…
Are you still playing Fortnite or have you stopped playing for a while? Tempted to dive back? You can fill out the following polls and then get off in the comments to let us know.
