Fortnite recently got an update this week that included a new trap, NVIDIA ShadowPlay features, and other gameplay tweaks. But Epic Games wasn’t quite finished apparently, as they’ve announced another update for next week. This time, it focuses on the Battle Royale game mode.
As many gamers possibly know, good quality maps are what make battle royale games truly flourish. Knowing the map and what’s where is one thing, but being able to be caught unaware (or more importantly, catching your opponent unaware) is what keeps the games fresh. Fortnite is getting new locations and points of interest added to its Battle Royale map. This includes a new city location, a deserted motel, and a junkyard.
Epic Games published a video to talk about this update. Here’s what lead designer Eric Williamson had to say:
“[Our map update includes] a bunch of new points of interest, including the city, and a bunch of new named areas on the west side of the map. We felt [the west] was a little bit light on points of interest, so we wanted to even the island out and make it feel like there were more locations to drop into.
We’ve also separated the map into more clearly-defined ‘biomes.’ The swamp feels swampier, the mountains feel more mountain-ey…really, the different areas of the map feel more unique. There’s also a bunch of quality-of-life improvements.”
Personally, a shake-up in variety might help battle royale games keep their relevance for longer, although they’re certainly not having that problem currently. It lets new players have somewhat of an edge over seasoned veterans as both of them work towards familiarizing themselves with new obstacles, balancing the scales a little more fairly.
The Fortnite Battle Royale map update is set to arrive on PC, Xbox One, and PS4 at some point next week.