By the title, I know some of you are already feeling the cringe; I know, me too. To think I'm actually writing an article about Fortnite is something I did not see myself ever stooping to. Yet one night while watching a stream, I found myself quite enthralled with what seemed to be a bigger story being told throughout the game. It led me to the thinking that Fortnite is a narratively-driven battle royale game - and I love that.
I started playing Fortnite some time during early Season 3, hesitant to give it a try due to the public opinion held by those on Twitter or Reddit. Fortnite had become a meme (though perhaps it still is) and if you didn't play it, you made fun of it. It definitely has a bit of an unappealing fanbase, but from what I had watched on some streams, it seemed like a really quality game - especially for being free to play.
Before I started playing the game myself, I had also briefly watched some Twitch streamers like TimTheTatman and jericho play during the later weeks of Season 2. When Season 3 came out, Epic Games (the developers of Fortnite) had touched up the map and added new places to go. It was when the comet appeared in the sky in S3 (Season 3) that any of us really got a sense of a story building.
Because I hadn't started playing the game until Epic updated the map, I only feel comfortable starting the story there. Leading up to S4, a comet appeared in the sky and eventually emitted a noise when the player affixed their crosshair to it. Fans speculated that this meteor would land on Tilted Towers to essentially give it a nerf since there was much more incentive to land there due to the amount of loot. However, when S4 arrived, the meteor landed at Dusty Depot and created a vast crater.
Due to the nature of meteors, smaller chunks either accompanied the larger one or broke off while entering the atmosphere. These smaller chunks landed on the map as well, destroying a small portion of Tilted Towers, Risky Reels, the Prison and the Motel. Smaller craters can also be found at other less landed areas near Fatal Fields, Junk Junction, Haunted Hills and Retail Row.
Along with the meteor destruction, there are also new areas on the map where a movie (or several) are being filmed. The theme for the season is superheroes and this applies to the film sets. There are also two secret bases on opposite sides of the map. The evil base includes a rocket or missile.
At first, I thought that maybe the rocket would lead to some sort of post-apocalyptic theme for Season 5, but besides that narrative being almost exhausted in video games from AAA titles like Fallout, users on the Fortnite subreddit have been speculating that perhaps there is some sort of dinosaur attack. Reddit user u/WNickW posted to the subreddit suggesting Epic is giving us hints at what is to come through the Battle Pass.
Players have also found a gigantic dinosaur footprint by Snobby and Greasy, though my thoughts on this find are summated by u/clearrants,
There's a movie shoot setup right next to the house.
Camera on a dolly on rails and everything aimed directly at the footprint/house.
Great find, but I wouldn't expect dinosaurs or giant monsters to show up this season because of this.
User u/OtterEats posted to the subreddit outlining evidence to support the dinosaur claims. I, however, think this may be a little far-fetched. I don't see how the meteor could be an egg, surviving the impact that it did. Speculation aside, what I am interested in is the story Epic is telling throughout the season. The government vehicles parked around the meteor sites are really intriguing, as well as the recent repairs to the crater in Tilted Towers. I am really excited to see what Epic has to offer while we enjoy the game and the clever lore behind it.
