DIY OF THE DEAD
If Epic can nail the plan, Fortnite could be its next big thing
Build to survive in Epic’s Fortnite.
Civilisation is gone, and you’ve got 14 days to scavenge for materials, raise a fortress, and arm yourself to survive 14 nights of monster attacks. Just announced for PS4, Fortnite will mix the kind of looting and RPG elements we expect from a dungeon crawler with third-person co-op shooting and world building.
Given Epic first revealed Fortnite back in 2011, two weeks of rooting for loot to build a bunker seems like ages. The company isn’t usually known for its multiplayer sandbox games, and certainly not for the kind of Minecraft-meets-Dying-Light madness that Fortnite promises. It’s venturing into new territory with Fortnite, and the game looks all the better for it.
There’s a sketchy narrative that attempts to give meaning to your scavenging: a gigantic purple storm swept the world and 98% of the population with it, all of whom vanished in its wispy, mysterious clouds. In the storm’s wake are monsters, millions of monsters. It’s your job to hold back the squall, fend off the fiends and rescue any survivors you can find, giving them shelter in your homemade fort.
By day you’ll need to team up and hunt for building materials to construct this fortress. At night, the monstrous horde will attack, leaving you and your merry band to defend your cobbled-together keep long enough to survive to revamp it the next day.
TOOL TIME
It’s the construction side of the game that piques our interest, as it promises some Acme Looney Tunes fun. As well as building your fortress from raw materials found in the world, you will also be able to nail together makeshift traps and defences that will use poison darts, sentry guns, and metal spikes to snare the horde. We’re particularly looking forward to crafting ‘launch pads’ that hurl any unsuspecting monsters skywards. But some will be clever, as we’re told the creature AI is very astute and will find a way past any poorly made trap. So you’ll want to pay close attention to where and how you lay down your cunning plans.
THE AI IS VERY ASTUTE AND WILL FIND A WAY PAST.
No two games will ever play out in the same way, either. The open world is procedurally generated and fully destructible, making it ripe for looting the resources needed to craft exotic (hydraulic axes) and not-so-exotic (sniper rifles) weapons. A skill tree levelling system will offer character progression, and with each rank reached new fort and trap schematics can be unlocked.
Ultimately teamwork will come into play – something Epic does know how to do. A drop-in, drop-out co-op mode will ensure the game is accessible, and there are regular events planned to give you reason to keep returning. We’re sure we’ll be returning too; the six-year wait has us eager to go, hammer ready.
We’ll be getting hands-on with Fortnite very soon. Can you wait a little longer?