I thought it’d be interesting to write a bit about what I expected from Chapter 4 Season 1 of Fortnite and then how it compared to what it actually ended up being. I’ll start off with the lead-up. I instantly knew the map would explode and thought that the floating parts seen in Chapter 3 Season 4 would be pulled together again to create a section of the map. That didn’t happen, but how the map was pieced together, happened exactly how I imagined it.
I have to say, I was looking forward to the live end event and being able to stream it for the first time. But due to being ill, that plan was quickly skipped. I played the end event, and I picked up on a few things that were happening that confirmed and gave new insights into what to expect. I was actually pretty disappointed with the end event and thought that last year was much better. I wasn’t overly bothered as I was so sick I just couldn’t wait to get to my bed.
Once the new map went live, and I was able to get into the game, the first thing I noticed immediately was the graphics. The use of Unreal Engine 5 was 100% a game changer… literally. I was jumping on and off the game taking breaks when feeling I needed a rest, but I was shocked, after sitting through many updates, that this one was much smoother. I was in the queue for only 9 minutes and 45 seconds, with no issues getting kicked out, and from that point, was able to get into games like it was any other day. I had very few issues at all. At most, I had one glitch and a bit of stuttering here and there but nothing disastrous. Had I known this would be the case, maybe I’d have streamed it after all?
So this is the point in the game I hate usually. Not knowing where to drop and not knowing which guns are best under certain circumstances. But, for some reason this time, I am enjoying it much more than I expected. In fact, looking back, nothing really went as expected.
So the glitch… this was the worst issue I experienced with this update. It was a strange issue and I’m not even sure (with everything being new) if it was something that was meant to happen. See… I had been in an area, I was fighting someone and was cornered. The storm rolled in, I was trapped and eventually killed the person that had me cornered. With a cocktail of mist spray, bandages and med kits, I managed to take a car and drive out of the storm to safety. Yet, seconds later, I found myself glitching back to the same area where I was cornered. Again more mist spray got me back out of the storm and it never happened again.
I’m loving the new POIs (points of interest). The castle is awesome, and the new dirt bikes are insane, but a nightmare to drive. Once I started I tried to uncover as much of the map as possible, but couldn’t uncover all of it on the first day. The shockwave hammer is a nightmare too (in the wrong hands). I fell in love with the shockwave grenades in Chapter 3 Season 3, and this hammer thing is pretty awesome, and you can deal damage to opponents which is a bonus. I’m not sure if I’ve picked a ‘goto’ gun yet, but I love the red-eye assault rifle.
The slurp juice, I’m not sure there was a need for this at all, but it’s another option which helps when you’re stuck in the storm again. I don’t remember using it with low health but from what I understand, it does heal you as well.
I haven’t seen any signs of the planes that were supposed to be in the game this chapter according to rumours. I’m not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. The rumoured double jump is also nowhere to be seen but vaulting things while sprinting is a welcome addition. All in all, it’s been an enjoyable start, less frustrating, less sweaty, and less glitched than I was expecting. I think the Chrome in Chapter 3 was annoying me ch, so anything would have been a welcome change.
The augmented stuff is a bit strange, I’ve not really used it much and didn’t really look at it much, so, that’s something I’ll need to delve into next.
That brings me to the last part, the battle pass. I’ve heard countless complaints about how bad it is this time. I get that it’s not great, but I think people forget, the items in the battle pass are purely cosmetic items only. They don’t make you play any worse, or better, all they do is show others you’ve managed to level up a few times to get particular skins.. It’s not something I’m overly bothered with. Generally, if I have v-bucks, I’ll level up rather than buy a skin but I do this purely to get myself out of the bot lobbies.
In total, from what I’ve seen and played so far, this has been 100% the best experience of an update to come to Fortnite from Epic Games. Yes, I was disappointed by the end event, and no, I’ve not gotten used to the guns yet, but I have had some good games and got some respectable ranked spots on most games. But from past experiences of end events to this one… this has been by far the best update to the game.
