“We love Battle Royale games like [PlayerUnkown’s Battlegrounds] and thought Fortnite would make a great foundation for our own version,” the Fortnite team said in a statement. Work on the new mode began a few months ago when Epic Games’ Unreal Tournament team experimented with the additional mode while the original Fornite team continued to update the main game.
At the start of a match, all 100 players begin on the floating battle bus with a glider and a pickaxe. From there, players must fend for themselves to decide how they win. There are tons of weapons to use, traps to set, and a giant map to take advantage of. Players must fight or defend until only one of them remains and is crowned the winner of Battle Royale.
While this style of game has been around for awhile, PlayerUnkown’s Battlegrounds refined and popularized it to an extent not seen since Minecraft. Rather than a simple copy and paste, Epic Games incorporated Fortnite‘s fundamental elements. Players can destroy their environment and build complex structures in their effort to survive.
Battle Royale is currently in Public Test for players. The team expects servers to break along with other crashes and bugs, so players should be patient as they help test the new addition. Any feedback about specific bugs or gameplay tweaks is encouraged.
As Fortnite continues through its Early Access period, it is important to remember that this is just the first version of the new mode. The core game and the Battle Royale mode will continue to update throughout Early Access and into the game’s launch.
Fortnite is currently on sale for 25 percent off the Standard and Deluxe Edition Founder’s Pack. The sale runs for one week, ending on September 18. Players can grab the game for PC, Mac, PS4, or Xbox One.
