It has been a tough yr for Fortnite, however Epic took a giant swing with its new One Piece-themed Treasure Hunters season and, fortunately, it is paying off. Participant counts are method up, with Fortnite’s essential Battle Royale mode averaging 4 instances as many gamers on Sunday for the season launch than it had been the previous few months. The numbers then obtained even bigger on Monday, by some means. Fortnite BR now seems on monitor to have its greatest month because the unique Fortnite OG mini-season in 2023. With GTA VI on the horizon, that is very excellent news for Epic.
There may be one significantly apparent purpose why the numbers are spiking so exhausting: The Treasure Hunt is giving gamers the prospect to win two weeks of free item-shop cosmetics each time they open a treasure chest. However Epic has additionally made a couple of main adjustments to BR that make it extra enjoyable to play than it has been at any earlier level throughout Chapter 7. The hunt free of charge cosmetics may be the factor that obtained everybody’s consideration, however the different adjustments would possibly really get a few of these new and returning people to stay round into Chapter 8.
Let’s check out what Epic did proper by ending Chapter 7 with this new mini-season.
Treasure Hunt
I’ve complained earlier than concerning the type of transparently coercive engagement mechanics that Epic has been utilizing in Chapter 7, however I might say they discovered a genuinely glorious one with the Treasure Hunt. Any time you or one in every of your squadmates opens a treasure chest, you have got an opportunity of successful one in every of a number of free cosmetics, together with an A$AP Rocky pores and skin and a Mercedes SUV. However there’s additionally type of a Willy Wonka golden ticket {that a} fortunate few will discover, which permits them to say every little thing within the merchandise store free of charge for 2 weeks.
That is an engagement method I can get behind, as a result of successful free cosmetics is the type of factor that appeals broadly to the overwhelming majority of Fortnite gamers, and the entry price is simply to play the sport the identical method you often would. It isn’t one thing you may grind out, so there’s nothing to emphasize about–you simply play, and possibly get fortunate.
Sprites are not gameplay important
It was good of Epic to introduce the Sprite-collecting mechanic in Season 3, however the issue was that they have been important to gameplay. In case you did not interact with that mechanic, you’d be at a drawback in fights. Throughout Season 4, for instance, if you did not have a Sonic or a Jackrabbit sprite late in a sweaty match, you have been in all probability gonna find yourself getting cooked by someone who did. Utilizing the sprites by no means felt elective.
Sprites have returned as soon as once more throughout Treasure Hunters season, however their skills are not the type of factor that considerably adjustments the stability of a struggle. This season, you are not going to lose plenty of matches as a result of the opposite man has a maxed-out Sonic sprite and may run twice as quick as you. It is the right stability: The parents who like sprites can preserve gathering them, and the remainder of us can do no matter we would like.
It appears like Fortnite once more
I do not assume Chapter 7 has been significantly dangerous in contrast with earlier chapters, but it surely launched plenty of elementary adjustments which have made it really feel unusual for Fortnite previous timers, just like the rearranged UI, buyable reboot playing cards, and a quicker time-to-kill that has made BR rather more unforgiving.
However Treasure Hunters season has rebalanced the gameplay to make BR really feel extra prefer it used to. The loot pool would not embody any weapons that that your common participant goes to laser you with from a distance, making it simpler to react to and survive ambushes. The elimination of buyable reboot playing cards means squads usually tend to decide to a struggle than run away on the first signal of bother.
And it has been fairly some time since we had new anime Mythics which can be as enjoyable as the brand new One Piece skills, significantly Ace’s hearth powers, which come from the Flame-Flame Fruit. In case you’re the kind of Fortnite participant who pines for the times of Deku’s Smash (all the best way again in Chapter 4) like I’m, you will have an absolute blast with the Flame-Flame Fruit. And do not even get me began on Zoro’s Three Swords, which is Fortnite’s most fascinating and amusing new melee weapon because the ODM Gear from Assault on Titan in Chapter 4.
Coming off Chapter 7 Season 4, which I discovered to be actively irritating up till Fortnitemares started in October, this Treasure Hunters mini-season already appears like a breath of recent air. Even when we did not have this hunt free of charge cosmetics and Tim Sweeney’s golden ticket to the merchandise store, this is able to be an important season of Fortnite.
They’ve pulled plenty of people again in with this Treasure Hunt, but it surely will not be simple to retain them with the discharge of GTA VI in a couple of weeks. If Fortnite performed the identical method it did final season, with the quicker TTK and compulsory sprite gameplay, I doubt this surge in gamers would final lengthy. However I believe Epic has given itself an actual shot to carry onto at the very least a few of our consideration with the adjustments it is made.
