If you’ve been on the internet in the past year, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of the wildly popular game Fortnite. From hearing that it’s a really fun new game, all the way to people throwing around the idea that it should be banned, Fortnite is one of the most well-known games right now. The game itself is unique in its own right when compared to other wildly popular games. When you hear about Fortnite, you’re most likely hearing about the “Battle Royale” part of the game, the free-to-play, player-vs-player part of the game.
The other side of Fortnite is the zombie defense and fort building “story mode,” named “Save the World.” This version costs money and does not have player-vs-player interaction. Battle Royale, on the other hand, is the game mode in which 100 players are pitted against each other to try to be the last person alive while a storm closes in from the outside. This new game mode has been made popular by games such as “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” or PUBG. This particular game made this mode very popular in late 2017 because of how unique it was to the masses and how detailed the game’s customization was when it comes to weaponry.
Fortnite: Battle Royale came along in September 2017 and was under the radar for a few months. Popular streamers on Twitch played the game and people eventually found out about it. What makes the game especially unique is the possibility of building structures very quickly and easily, although this feature was in the base game. The developers, Epic Games, put the feature into the Battle Royale mode to give players a way to defend themselves against fire from another player.
After release, in July 2018, the game was launched on IOS platforms, allowing a whole new audience to play the game now on their phones. Later being announce on the Nintendo Switch and Android platforms, almost any person with a device can play the game, for free. While the game is free, there are in-game purchases to make your player look unique, within the game there in an option to purchase V-Bucks, which allow you to purchase skins, as well as dances and other items to make your character look unique.
The game includes many weapons, most of which are real guns and a few of which are fictional. There are also many ways to heal yourself in the game if you are shot, such as potions which give you a certain amount of shield, or bandages as well as medkits which can heal your character as well. There are other items as well in which players can use that are fictional, such as the boogie bomb, in which players can throw a grenade like object that, when landing on a player, will make them dance for a set amount of time, only being able to move and nothing else.
By: Curren Podlesny, Photographer
