Epic Games is ready to kick off the eighth season in its popular battle royale game, Fortnite, and the developer is cramming in a brand new season pass, all kinds of cosmetics and a handful of map changes that should help keep things interesting in the coming weeks. And did I mention you can now shoot your friends out of cannons?
Say what you will about Fortnite, Epic has done a stellar job of making the game a dynamic experience. From regular equipment changes to rotating game modes and the occasional live event, one of the things that keep players coming back for more is the fact that the game is always changing. And there appears to be some pretty big changes coming in the Season 8 update.
Over on the Epic Games blog, a recent post walks us through some of the new content we can expect out of the coming weeks in Fortnite. They do a good job of keeping the details to a minimum, though, as discovering how all of this new stuff works is half of the fun.
For starters, there’s a real “adventure” theme with this latest update, as Season 8 is all about pirates, ninjas and exploration. They’re also real big on the tagline, “X marks the spot,” which will possibly work its way into the game’s evolving lore by way of a new game mode.
The season will also see a couple of new locations pop up on the battle royale map, including the pirate-themed Lazy Lagoon and the ancient temple known as the Sunny Steps. There’s also an active volcano in the mix, with dangerous lava and heat jets that will allow players to fly into the air and redeploy their glider.
Season 8 will boast the expected season pass for 950 V-Bucks, which translates into $10 in real-world money. Buying the season pass will net you some loot right out of the gate, with additional gear up for grabs simply by playing the game and earning experience points. Speaking of which, you can now choose a specific achievement before jumping into a round of Fortnite with your team to have them help you reach your goal. If you need to get eight shotgun kills, for instance, any shotgun kills by your teammates will also count toward your personal goal.
Finally, while Season 8 will no doubt introduce plenty of new weapons and events in the coming weeks, one of the big new wrinkles being added right off the bat are cannons. It looks like you can use these bad boys to fire projectiles at your enemies, or even load a fellow player into the barrel and shoot them into the fray. It looks like they’ll do damage to any structure they hit, too, so it’ll be interesting to see how players choose to use these new in-game items to their advantage.
