Removing the Fort from Fortnite
By Aditya Deshbandhu The last week has been one of extreme upheaval in the world of Fortnite as the battle royale multiplayer has removed the crucial aspect of building in its gameplay. Building, a great way to traverse distances and approach combat in the game was the single largest differentiator between Fortnite and other battle […]
By Aditya Deshbandhu
The last week has been one of extreme upheaval in the world of Fortnite as the battle royale multiplayer has removed the crucial aspect of building in its gameplay. Building, a great way to traverse distances and approach combat in the game was the single largest differentiator between Fortnite and other battle royale games like PUBG and Free Fire. As players found innovative ways of merging mechanics of building and gunplay, over time Fortnite acquired a unique flavour and set of strategies amongst its players.
Thus, this change seems a bit sudden and counter-intuitive at first glance, as it almost seems that the developers are forcing players to find new ways to succeed in the game.
On a deeper level though, I feel this isn’t as big a transformation as it is being made out to be. The changes in the game’s meta in the last few years have ushered in a faster and more direct play style as players have been encouraged to think faster and adapt to others’ actions even faster. The removal of the building dimension then seems a logical extension of that idea as it allows players to concentrate on the single specific dimension of combat and gunplay.
Although, I strongly believe that this change is a temporary one, as it is in line with the ‘meteor event’ that erased the world in Fortnite to start anew (Season 3 and 10). Similarly, the temporary removal of building mechanics could be the right opportunity to allow their reintroduction in the next season in a revamped fashion.
However, data miners who have unearthed the underlying code in the game’s files believe that the game is likely to retain a version of the game without building as an alternate mode for its players. A move that does not seem too surprising if we consider that one of Fortnite’s competitor CoD Mobile has retained its iconic 5v5 battle mode as an alternative to the battle royale mode right since day one. The no building mode then gives Fortnite some
much-needed variety as players who wish to be part of a faster and more direct game now have a place to perfect their playstyles while fans of the classic mode will continue with building unabated. With the sheer number of players who play the game, a number only reinforced by the sizable contributions made by the game’s playing community to the relief efforts in Ukraine (37 million Pounds), matchmaking across both modes should not be much of a hassle. Expect no shortage of players in both modes if the no building mode is to remain as the data miners predict.
Lastly, this sudden shift in the game’s approach to play is a significant one as the last year has seen Fortnite singularly commit to crossovers with other fictional universes as iconic characters like Iron Man, Spiderman, Batman, Galactus, and the Mandalorian have been made available to players as playable skins along with sporting stars like Lebron James and Chloe Kim. The changes in terms of gameplay have been minor as most efforts have been focused on the integration of the unique player skins into Fortnite’s gameplay. This shift of ‘no building’ though, is an indicator that the game has for the time being returned its focus to the core aspects of gameplay. An always welcome trend as no gameplay experience is ever perfect.
Have you tried Fortnite without building yet? If not, please do. It almost seems like an entirely different game.
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