Fortnite continues to be a successful game and, once again, it has proven itself as one of the most boundary-pushing titles right now. Following a very surprising move that made the game unavailable for nearly 48 hours, Epic Games reminded everyone that its battle royale hit is a force to be reckoned with.
The “relaunch” of Fortnite, as some in the community have called it, came on a Tuesday morning after a meteor struck the island packed with hundreds of millions of players. In the wake of the meteor’s arrival, a black hole seemed to have sucked up the map and left players staring at a blank screen for hours.
Eventually, the game’s new map, which had been leaked in bits and pieces over the last few weeks, came out the other side after two tortuously long days of silence. The completely reworked island, and the launch of the next season, officially marks Fortnite Chapter 2. The next chapter is going to feature a brand-new world, one that promises to offer a good number of activities and hidden challenges. What is more, there will be an updated visual style and interface, and plenty of quality of life improvements. Certainly, the game is becoming exciting once again.
The whole narrative was without a doubt the most groundbreaking live event the studio has ever pulled off in its existence. Sure, the world-shaking robot-monster battle in late July was something on its own, but it never came close to this recent event.
Interestingly, before the game went offline, it was not really in the greatest place. As a matter of fact, many fans and players alike felt like the title was entering into a downward spiral, following a summer during which it hosted a hugely successful esports tournament and could seemingly do no wrong.
Season X, arriving the week after the World Cup, felt like a bad hangover after a raucous celebration. Instead of Epic Games using its 10th season in an attempt to celebrate Fortnite’s meteoric two-year rise and the realization of its esports ambitions, the game started to sour. Hopefully Epic is using this Chapter 2 relaunch as a first step to bigger and better things.
