Fortnite Chapter 7 makes a controversial change to the battle royale, and I don’t know how to feel about it.
Despite the new season kicking off over the winter, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, Fortnite Chapter 7 boasts a summer vibe like no other. As someone who’s acclimatised to the drizzly weather of Great Britain, I can’t help but sigh as I look away from my monitor and out my window at grey, melancholy skies.
That said, escapism is what games are all about, right? We can forget our worries and our strifes and focus on important matters like where we’re going to drop from the Battle Bus… Wait, where’s the bus?!
Yes, Fortnite has destroyed the Battle Bus, for real this time. In the past, we’ve seen it crash, get stuck, and even take shots from Marvel’s Galactus but this time, it’s really gone, blown up by a new alien threat that’s made its way to the island.
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California and Hollywood are big inspirations for this new season, and Area 51, the government bunker that’s believed to be housing aliens, is one of the new areas, so I’d imagine that’ll have something to do with whatever blew up the bus. Without it though, players needed a new way to launch into the battle royale. Keeping with that Californian good-time feeling, the folks at Epic Games have decided surfing would be a good replacement, so instead of waiting for the bus to arrive, we’ll instead be waiting for the tide to roll in.
It’s quite a big change, not just visually but gameplay-wise too. Previously, the Battle Bus could deploy from any side of the map, but regardless of the deployment line, you’d always be capable of getting to any part of the map provided you jumped and glided at the right time. Surfing your way onto the island is a different story though as you only seem to jump so high, so you don’t get the same choice of drop locations as you did before.
In practice, this isn’t a horrendous change, but it does remove some of the strategy of choosing where to drop, and pretty much confirms an enemy engagement as soon as you start the game as there’s only so much real-estate if you’re sticking to the coasts. I’d imagine this will also be a pain to those who just want to hop on and do some quests, as many are location-based so you won’t be able to just drop down, do your task and move on in quite the same way.
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It’s going to feel a little weird at first, but Fortnite Chapter 7 more than makes up for this controversial swap with its new loot pool, gorgeous locations, and much, much more.
Fortnite Chapter 7 launches on 30 November following the Zero Hour live event.
Topics: Fortnite, Epic Games, Features