Someone explain to me what exactly "Fortnite" is nowadays

[Sölf]

Hey there.

Back in the day, there was this game called "Fortnite", which was a co-op game which was a sort of Hero defense. I bought it near release, but bounced of pretty quickly because I thought even the early stages took too long. I think I only beat 3 or 4 stages and it already bored me. It didn't help that after one day of playing I was on vacation and my friends continued without me, so when I came back I was at stage 2 and they were at like stage 20 or something.

Anyway, I ignored the game for the time being and somewhat regretted buying it.

Some time later, Fortnite added their Battle Royale mode and became free to play. It was apparently pretty good, I gave it another go with friends, but I am not the biggest PvP player anyways and also realized that Battle Royale games just aren't for me. So I ignored the game again.

Which brings me to today...

I actually have no idea what exactly "Fortnite" IS nowdays.
I know that the Save the World co-op mode still exists but I assume it was abandoned in favor of the Battle Royale mode.
I know that the Battle Royale mode is still their main mode. But the game also has all these cross media promotions and adds new characters which makes said Battle Royale mode completely wild? Balance adieu? Or is there a "normal" Battle Royale mode and the one where everything goes? Being able to just fly with Son Goku when other people are on the ground building sounds completely broken?
I also know Fortnite added some other modes, like the current Rockband Festival which seems to be a Rythm Game akin to Guitar hero and the Lego Minecraft mode.
I also know Fortnite added a sort of "World Editor", I would compare to something like Little Big Planet or Dreams, because I saw videos of people making Co-Op bosses inside Fortnite.

However, even with all that in mind, I still don't know what that "game" exactly is nowadays. Is it still a battle royale game with other stuff just tacked onto, like the original Save the World mode? So basically something like Warcraft 3 custom maps vs. normal Ladde games? Or is it something completely different nowdays?

Someone explain, I am old and while I will probably never play it again, I would like to understand what the cool kids play nowdays.

 

[onibirdo]

It's life man

 

[srylain]

It's a platform, with various experiences built into it like Battle Royale, Rocket Racing, Festival, and countless others that people create.

 

[nsilvias]

it's the super app of games

 

[Gay Bowser]

Fortnite is basically a meta-game that has multiple games within it. It's a platform unto its own, really.

 

[MayorSquirtle]

I know that the Battle Royale mode is still their main mode. But the game also has all these cross media promotions and adds new characters which makes said Battle Royale mode completely wild? Balance adieu? Or is there a "normal" Battle Royale mode and the one where everything goes? Being able to just fly with Son Goku when other people are on the ground building sounds completely broken?

Click to shrink...

Skins are cosmetic only. They're constantly updating the game with new weapons and items, and that frequently involves the collaboration IPs but anyone can use them. Right now The Last Airbender collab is running so all types of bending are in the game but they're not locked to the Avatar skins.

 

[PennyPasta]

Roblox 2

 

[A Strong Latte]

WC 3 maps are a decent comparison, but if blizzard were also making unhinged crossovers in the regular game at the same time

 

[Dust]

Hey there.

Back in the day, there was this game called "Fortnite", which was a co-op game which was a sort of Hero defense. I bought it near release, but bounced of pretty quickly because I thought even the early stages took too long. I think I only beat 3 or 4 stages and it already bored me. It didn't help that after one day of playing I was on vacation and my friends continued without me, so when I came back I was at stage 2 and they were at like stage 20 or something.

Anyway, I ignored the game for the time being and somewhat regretted buying it.

Some time later, Fortnite added their Battle Royale mode and became free to play. It was apparently pretty good, I gave it another go with friends, but I am not the biggest PvP player anyways and also realized that Battle Royale games just aren't for me. So I ignored the game again.

Which brings me to today...

I actually have no idea what exactly "Fortnite" IS nowdays.
I know that the Save the World co-op mode still exists but I assume it was abandoned in favor of the Battle Royale mode.
I know that the Battle Royale mode is still their main mode. But the game also has all these cross media promotions and adds new characters which makes said Battle Royale mode completely wild? Balance adieu? Or is there a "normal" Battle Royale mode and the one where everything goes? Being able to just fly with Son Goku when other people are on the ground building sounds completely broken?
I also know Fortnite added some other modes, like the current Rockband Festival which seems to be a Rythm Game akin to Guitar hero and the Lego Minecraft mode.
I also know Fortnite added a sort of "World Editor", I would compare to something like Little Big Planet or Dreams, because I saw videos of people making Co-Op bosses inside Fortnite.

However, even with all that in mind, I still don't know what that "game" exactly is nowadays. Is it still a battle royale game with other stuff just tacked onto, like the original Save the World mode? So basically something like Warcraft 3 custom maps vs. normal Ladde games? Or is it something completely different nowdays?

Someone explain, I am old and while I will probably never play it again, I would like to understand what the cool kids play nowdays.

Click to shrink...

Fortnite is the Gold Saucer and the games/experiences inside it are all the minigames.

Spoiler

I never played Fortnite lol.

 

[astro]

Save the World, the horde mode base defense game, is actually good and still going. I played the hell out of that. I also prefered Battle Royal when it released and had less going on, but it's still quite impressive what they've grown the game into.

 

[Rosebud]

It's a platform. There are games made by Epic/their devs (Battle Royale, Rock Band etc.) and Creative, a engine where players can create games they want and publish for everyone

I know that the Battle Royale mode is still their main mode. But the game also has all these cross media promotions and adds new characters which makes said Battle Royale mode completely wild? Balance adieu? Or is there a "normal" Battle Royale mode and the one where everything goes? Being able to just fly with Son Goku when other people are on the ground building sounds completely broken?

Click to shrink...

The special powers come and go depending on events and they aren't locked to skins, anyone can use them. Right now you can use Avatar bendings and they are much better than regular guns

 

[Omanisat]

A platform to allow various corporations unfettered access to children for the purposes of marketing.

 

[Madao]

Fortnite is the Gold Saucer and the games/experiences inside it are all the minigames.

Spoiler

I never played Fortnite lol.

Click to shrink...

this is a pretty good analogy actually.

 

[Rolodzeo]

I really don't see it as a videogame anymore, it's something more similar to a social app, where kids can show off with cosmetics and such. That being said, I think I played it twice in my life and I'm an old fart, so I might be extremely off :V

 

[PeakPointMatrix]

A platform to allow various corporations unfettered access to children for the purposes of marketing.

Click to shrink...

You just described 95% of all products on earth.

 

[MarcelloF]

Being able to just fly with Son Goku when other people are on the ground building sounds completely broken?

Click to shrink...

Goku can't fly. During Dragon Ball stuff there is a Flying Nimbus item that launches you into the air and let's you glide back down, though. Anyone can use it.

 

[Palas]

Roblox 2

Click to shrink...

Yeah everything people are describing made me reach this conclusion

Roblox for older kids. Roblox Shippuuden. Anything along these lines

 

[RockmanBN]

Roblox 2

Click to shrink...

.

 

[Sölf]

The Roblox comparison doesn't help me, I never played that or know anyone who has. I only know youtube videos which make the game look like exploitation hell because of the Robucks... xD

Does the Battle Pass still only work mainly in the Battle Royale mode? Or could I earn everything by just playing the Rockband mode for example?

 

[Bengraven]

So.

The mode you played, the original is called Save the World. Originally that mode received Seasonal updates the same time as the free to play Battle Royale but that ended around Season 8. They added a few levels and modes but nothing substantial and it's almost a dead game, despite them charging you for it to this day. A couple years ago they allowed you to use your BR skins in that mode and since then they now give the game away with paid bundles with skins and quests.

BR added some limited time modes that were more casual friendly like 50 v 50, a "floor is lava" mode (which is super fun) and the most popular at the time Team Rumbles - which is essentially a team deathmatch game on the map with respawning. That mode eventually became permanent. BR went on for a couple years until season 10/X when it redid the map and called itself Chapter 2 season 1. Since then they will refresh the map and gameplay every year or so and call it the next Chapter. Since you've played they've added quite a bit - vehicles like cars and motorcycles and hoverboards, the ability to sprint, slide, mantle. They added a Zero Build mode a year or so ago that was so popular it also became permanent and is much more casual friendly.

Somewhere in chapter 1 they added their own create a level mode called…Creative. It was huge. To the point that now you see creative maps on the front page. Many of the most popular modes are doing similar things that Roblox does such as mini sim/tycoon games and "death run/parkour" maps.

All of this was when the joke about "Fortnite becoming Roblox" started.

A few months ago they announced, like due to how Creative continues to be incredibly popular among younger players, that they were adding new modes and they referred to Fortnite as a Platform now. When this happened they added LEGO Fortnite, Fortnite Festival (a music mode made by Harmonix that's basically Fortnite Rock Band), and Rocket Racing (a racing game using Rocket League cars and your Fortnite skins as the drivers).

So now Fortnite is a big platform. The days of the PVE mode that was announced when the game was announced is long sitting lingering with its only acknowledgement being the paid bundles that pop up in the shop every few months with a new skin. The Battle Royale mode is still massive and has changed quite a bit to be more dynamic and it's constantly updated still. And now because of the new modes you can buy LEGO sets and real music tracks like The Weeknd and Nine Inch Nails and Lady Gaga and Green Day in the item shop alongside allllll the skins and collab skins.

 

[MayorSquirtle]

Does the Battle Pass still only work mainly in the Battle Royale mode? Or could I earn everything by just playing the Rockband mode for example?

Click to shrink...

You can earn battle pass exp in any of the modes, but it'll be harder to max it out if you're not playing BR. Exp earned in Festival (Rock Band) is just a flat amount every 15-30 minutes and it has a daily cap.

 

[Risitas]

It's a BR but you can shoot the AI to get better weapons

But it's also Roblox 2 outside of the BR

 

[Crossing Eden]

A platform/metaverse

 

[Rosebud]

Roblox 2

Click to shrink...

Yeah everything people are describing made me reach this conclusion

Roblox for older kids. Roblox Shippuuden. Anything along these lines

Click to shrink...

Not really because Roblox is unmoderated, unpolished and a free for all in terms of content. They also don't got teams like Harmonix and LEGO developing for it

The Roblox comparison doesn't help me, I never played that or know anyone who has. I only know youtube videos which make the game look like exploitation hell because of the Robucks... xD

Does the Battle Pass still only work mainly in the Battle Royale mode? Or could I earn everything by just playing the Rockband mode for example?

Click to shrink...

I did 95% of the current pass in Rock Band and LEGO

 

[Bengraven]

The Roblox comparison doesn't help me, I never played that or know anyone who has. I only know youtube videos which make the game look like exploitation hell because of the Robucks... xD

Does the Battle Pass still only work mainly in the Battle Royale mode? Or could I earn everything by just playing the Rockband mode for example?

Click to shrink...

You can earn battle pass XP in every mode.

Most of the main modes have specific quests to help you get even more XP or unlock cosmetics. And you get a bit of XP just for playing in their creative mode but there's a daily limit there.

 

[Nintendo]

It's a launcher for many games. Battle Royale is the most popular. There's the original Save The World tower defense game. There's Lego Fortnite which is a survival crafting game. Rocket Racing which is an arcade racer. And Fortnite Festival a music game by Harmonix . Those are the official ones.

Other than those, there are countless user created maps and minigames.

I think progression and cosmetics are shared between everything. Not sure about STW, haven't played that in years.

 

[Nintendo]

The Roblox comparison doesn't help me, I never played that or know anyone who has. I only know youtube videos which make the game look like exploitation hell because of the Robucks... xD

Does the Battle Pass still only work mainly in the Battle Royale mode? Or could I earn everything by just playing the Rockband mode for example?

Click to shrink...

You can level up the Battle Pass by playing anything. Though there are quests that are specific to certain modes that boost your progression.

 

[Rumenapp]

Fortnite is everything nowadays

 

[MikeProtagonist]

As someone who hasn't played a second of it, wouldn't it be accurate to call it a franchise like Mario? You have your base game, but then you also have the same characters in Mario Kart, Mario Tennis, Mario Party, Mario Football etc, all with the same general design choices. Only in Fortnite, you can play as thousands of different original and licensed characters and plop that character into all those different games instead of just having Mario and friends. And there's a persistent overall account keeping track of your stuff across those games. Kind of like the thing everyone said NTF:s would do, except, you know, it actually works in Fortnite.

 

[Necron]

Licensing of Intellectual Property Simulator

 

[Nintendo]

As someone who hasn't played a second of it, wouldn't it be accurate to call it a franchise like Mario? You have your base game, but then you also have the same characters in Mario Kart, Mario Tennis, Mario Party, Mario Football etc, all with the same general design choices. Only in Fortnite, you can play as thousands of different original and licensed characters and plop that character into all those different games instead of just having Mario and friends. And there's a persistent overall account keeping track of your stuff across those games. Kind of like the thing everyone said NTF:s would do, except, you know, it actually works in Fortnite.

Click to shrink...

Imagine if Nintendo had something like this. One account to share progression and unlocks across all those games.

 

[Molten_]

It's life man

Click to shrink...

fuck it, we fortnite

 

[LazyGradient]

So.

The mode you played, the original is called Save the World. Originally that mode received Seasonal updates the same time as the free to play Battle Royale but that ended around Season 8. They added a few levels and modes but nothing substantial and it's almost a dead game, despite them charging you for it to this day. A couple years ago they allowed you to use your BR skins in that mode and since then they now give the game away with paid bundles with skins and quests.

BR added some limited time modes that were more casual friendly like 50 v 50, a "floor is lava" mode (which is super fun) and the most popular at the time Team Rumbles - which is essentially a team deathmatch game on the map with respawning. That mode eventually became permanent. BR went on for a couple years until season 10/X when it redid the map and called itself Chapter 2 season 1. Since then they will refresh the map and gameplay every year or so and call it the next Chapter. Since you've played they've added quite a bit - vehicles like cars and motorcycles and hoverboards, the ability to sprint, slide, mantle. They added a Zero Build mode a year or so ago that was so popular it also became permanent and is much more casual friendly.

Somewhere in chapter 1 they added their own create a level mode called…Creative. It was huge. To the point that now you see creative maps on the front page. Many of the most popular modes are doing similar things that Roblox does such as mini sim/tycoon games and "death run/parkour" maps.

All of this was when the joke about "Fortnite becoming Roblox" started.

A few months ago they announced, like due to how Creative continues to be incredibly popular among younger players, that they were adding new modes and they referred to Fortnite as a Platform now. When this happened they added LEGO Fortnite, Fortnite Festival (a music mode made by Harmonix that's basically Fortnite Rock Band), and Rocket Racing (a racing game using Rocket League cars and your Fortnite skins as the drivers).

So now Fortnite is a big platform. The days of the PVE mode that was announced when the game was announced is long sitting lingering with its only acknowledgement being the paid bundles that pop up in the shop every few months with a new skin. The Battle Royale mode is still massive and has changed quite a bit to be more dynamic and it's constantly updated still. And now because of the new modes you can buy LEGO sets and real music tracks like The Weeknd and Nine Inch Nails and Lady Gaga and Green Day in the item shop alongside allllll the skins and collab skins.

Click to shrink...

Thank you for this write-up!

So in creative is it possible to create other types of games? I'm thinking about how big the Starcraft and Warcraft battle.net custom games were. Those were immensly popular and spawned a host of other games.

 

[Sölf]

I assume the ame is still mainly menu based, similar to how you pick custom maps in Warcraft 3? Or do you actually have a sort of map you can run around and choose stuff from there, like a MMO Lobby or something?

At least this all sounds like Fortnite is much more interesting nowadays. Not sure if I will ever play that again, but good for them managing to create this! :D

 

[Bengraven]

Thank you for this write-up!

So in creative is it possible to create other types of games? I'm thinking about how big the Starcraft and Warcraft battle.net custom games were. Those were immensly popular and spawned a host of other games.

Click to shrink...

Originally it was mostly a small map and the Fortnite assets only. Recently they created 2.0 to showcase UE's power and allowed for some more leniency and power. It's not there YET like it's still very much based on the Battle Royale mode as a foundation and there's not a lot of space yet allowing you go buck wild but their goal is to allow you make ANY kind of game you want.

 

[T0kenAussie]

By sheer force of will it's becoming the ready player one metaverse everyone talked about making in 2020. It's got licence skins and multiple game modes and a free to play ramp that is accessible to anyone

But it's not as engaging yet for the old heads so it's not the biggest universe imo but it's definitely an 0.5 to rp1 imo

 

[pioneer]

I assume the ame is still mainly menu based, similar to how you pick custom maps in Warcraft 3? Or do you actually have a sort of map you can run around and choose stuff from there, like a MMO Lobby or something?

At least this all sounds like Fortnite is much more interesting nowadays. Not sure if I will ever play that again, but good for them managing to create this! :D

Click to shrink...

You select Battle Royale, LEGO, etc from a menu yeah

 

[Bengraven]

I assume the ame is still mainly menu based, similar to how you pick custom maps in Warcraft 3? Or do you actually have a sort of map you can run around and choose stuff from there, like a MMO Lobby or something?

At least this all sounds like Fortnite is much more interesting nowadays. Not sure if I will ever play that again, but good for them managing to create this! :D

Click to shrink...

Push down on the traditional character lobby and…

 

[Mikch85]

Good question. I assume "cartoonish battle royale with guests from every IP ever" doesn't cut it.

 

[Ravelle]

The main draw is the battle royale but unlike other battle royales, Fortnite lets you also just do a bunch of missions including story mission and goof off while you get closer to the center, it's fun and non sweaty, it's a good time.

There's the Festival mode which is like Rockband the music you can play is very limited, there is Rocket Racing which is a very dry and barebones racing game with rocket league cars and there is not much to it.

And there is Lego which I have not tried yet.

 

[PachaelD]

Unreal Engine 5: The Game

 

[sir_crocodile]

a game without Samus

 

[blueredandgold]

Can you "poke" someone on their "wall" though.

 

[Lobster Roll]

A battle royale game that moonlights as advertising space.

 

[CharMomone]

A trend chasing platform, from a failed survival mode based game to a popular battle royale, eventually forgoing most of the survival mode elements leftover to allow a more standardized no build battle royale, to wanting fortnite to compete with roblox in user generated content.

Nowadays they want it to be more of a platform than a game, but anything that isnt battle royale still struggles to maintain high playercounts comparatively.

 

[JCal]

Unreal Engine 5: The Game

Click to shrink...

Came for this. Leave satisfied.

 

[Rosebud]

Nowadays they want it to be more of a platform than a game, but anything that isnt battle royale still struggles to maintain high playercounts comparatively.

Click to shrink...

Rock Band and LEGO are constantly above 50k, many games would kill for that

 

[Neutron]

It's a zoomer calling me a boomer.

 

[Roboraptor]

Push down on the traditional character lobby and…

Click to shrink...

Actually crazy how much that game has changed.

 

[CharMomone]

Rock Band and LEGO are constantly above 50k, many games would kill for that

Click to shrink...

It helps that those games are popular for idling for battle pass rewards.

I'm just salty that my preferred gamemode 'rocket racing' has me waiting minutes for races on occasion.