Season 5 of Fortnite launches tomorrow. After months of teases, leaks, and a complex ARG, it’s difficult to decipher what to expect. Whereas the transition for Season 4 occurred instantaneously, the build-up to Season 5 has been an ongoing process. In case you missed something, here’s everything we know so far.
Let’s review: What happened in Season 4?
Throughout the course of Season 4, players witnessed constant changes to the island map. Primarily, locations that had been destroyed by the meteor collision at the beginning of the season were slowly rebuilt. Construction sites sprung up to straighten out the leveled buildings in Tilted Towers, and a strange facility appeared in what was once Dusty Depot. Now a crater, this location saw the most change over the course of the season. Buildings continued to expand, and green tufts of vegetation poked through the rugged soil.
Contributing to the underlying narrative of the Battle Royale, two lairs appeared on opposite ends of the map. One, near Snobby Shores, was soon discovered to have a villainous association. Meanwhile, the mansion on the eastern edge of the map was declared a haven for the game’s heroes. These two locations spurned the greatest shift in the game’s growth.
As the season progressed, the villain’s lair developed a mysterious rocket. The game’s Twitter and Reddit pages were filled with player speculation as to what would happen. People predicted the destruction of various locations, or that the rocket would desolate the map and create a desert biome. Ultimately, the beginning of the end was signaled by the much-hyped rocket launch. Epic Games held the world on a string with its once-ever event, which occurred live in-game. Peace treaties were made and subsequently broken as players watched the rocket rise into the night sky.
So what did the rocket destroy?
What happened, however, was unlike anything people expected. Rather than destroy a singular location, the event set into motion a series of mysteries that would captivate audiences until today, the final day of the season. Following the launch, a portion of the rocket fell back to the island. Players watched as it whizzed around, jumping in and out of strange portals. In a roaring crescendo, the event climaxed with the rocket crashing into the atmosphere itself, searing a crack in the sky. It was a blockbuster event for the game. Fitting, considering the theme of Season 4 was heroes, villains, and movie setpieces.
How does the rocket launch impact Season 5?
The rocket launch was only the beginning. Players expected catharsis, but only received more mystery. In the weeks following the rocket’s launch, the crack in the sky continued to grow. Furthermore, smaller rifts appeared across the map. Within 24 hours, the rifts swallowed objects around them. Popular locations such as the Durr Burger and Tomato Head are no longer. In their place, relics of the past appeared. A new item, the Drum Gun, was added to the game, matching the arrival of the Detective Agency location within Retail Row. Slightly afterward, other artifacts dropped in other locations. Among these were a ship’s anchor and a stagecoach.
Not only that, but these changes spread outside of the game. First, the aforementioned Durr Burger dropped into the desert in California. This launched a media frenzy as fans rushed to the location to gather more clues. Aspiring detectives were met by an “Agent” and a phone number to call. Of course, many people called. The other line played a bizarre, staticky audio recording. Once placed into an editing program, the spectrogram of the audio displayed coordinates for the in-game location Greasy Grove. While this portion of the ARG occurred, Loot Llamas from the game appeared in our world as well.
All of this culminated in three teaser images revealed by Epic Games this week. In sequence, players saw what appeared to be a kitsune mask, followed by a Nordic ax. Each image further solidified players’ suspicions of the approaching season’s theme. Bearing the tagline “Worlds Collide,” the widespread belief is that tomorrow’s update introduces a history theme. The rifts around the island are supposedly temporal rifts, leaking different splices of history. When players launch the game tomorrow, it’s likely the large tear in the sky will open up entirely, replacing the former points of interest on the map with different historical settings.
Groovy! So, when exactly does Season 5 start?
As mentioned earlier, the new season begins tomorrow. In a Reddit post earlier today, Epic Games confirmed the impending server downtime prior to the new update. All platforms will be temporarily down for maintenance at 4 AM Eastern Time (0800 GMT) tomorrow, July 12. In the meantime, Epic will post the official patch notes for the update as soon as downtime begins. This should give players something to read while they wait, reminiscent of reading a game’s manual on the car ride home from the store. Fortunately, these reading materials will come in handy, as Epic promises a rather large update.
We also have many new things coming your way, due to this the patch size will be larger than normal. So make sure you have that auto-update ready! There is also the potential you may also experience slower download speeds.
There’s currently no estimate as to how long the server update will take. Epic promises to update players once the servers are back online. Similarly, we’ll be sure to offer first-hand coverage the moment the game is live again. So, if you’re reading this wondering if you have time to complete Season 4’s Battle Pass, it’s likely too late. But do stay tuned to Daily eSports for help in the future. Starting with Season 5, we’ll be publishing guides on how to easily complete each week’s challenges.
What to expect once the seasons change
Aside from the weather, of course. Jokes aside, this remark may not be too far off from the truth. Players expect a significant change to the game’s map, something that is alluded to when Epic states they have “many new things coming your way.” Following the rumors of a historical theme, it seems likely new biomes will appear. Especially with the recent addition of a desert to the game’s PvE mode, Save the World, the lush greens of the island may soon dry up. Perhaps we will see a Western-themed desert, complete with saloon and tumbleweed.
In addition to what are likely significant changes to the map, players will also lose access to a fan-favorite mode. The Playground LTM, introduced last week after a shaky launch, allows players to play private, modified matches with their squads. As previously revealed by Epic, the mode is being pulled from the game as of tomorrow’s update. Considering the rampant success of this mode, it shouldn’t be too long before players are able to jump in again. Epic likely wants to test the stability of their new map and the server load before reintroducing the resource-intensive Playground.
However, Epic dropped another, unexpected bomb on players today. If you’ve accrued a collection of in-game replays that you’re fond of, you’re going to want to back those up somewhere else. Unfortunately, as of tomorrow, they’re gone. This was revealed in Epic’s Reddit post earlier today, in which they revealed:
Any previous replays you have saved will be unplayable in the new build. So make sure to create any last minute content you have saved in your replays.
If you’ve been delaying creating your entry for the #FortniteBlockbuster video contest, it’s now or never. In fact, you only have until 11:59 PM ET to submit your entry. Lights, camera, action!
The familiar journey ahead: Season 5 Battle Pass and the future
Another season, another Battle Pass. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, the Battle Pass is an item that can be purchased either real-world money or in-game V-Bucks. The Battle Pass provides players with an additional incentive to play the game. As they earn experience points by playing, the pass provides them with varying tiers of rewards to unlock. These rewards do not alter gameplay, as they are purely cosmetic, and include new skins and emotes. Each season, the Battle Pass is linked with that particular season’s theme, offering exclusive rewards that are unavailable to unlock once the season ends.
Previously, people who purchased a Season 3 Battle Pass received a discount on the Season 4 version. Whether or not this holds true for Season 5 is still unknown. The previous cost was 950 V-Bucks, which is slightly under $10 USD, though this also has yet to be confirmed for the new season. Another mystery is the number of tiers for this season’s Battle Pass. Whereas Season 3’s pass had 70 tiers, the most recent season featured an even 100.
Regardless, players have plenty to look forward to tomorrow. A wealth of new content, mixed with new rewards to unlock, ensure that the game’s audience remains captivated for months to come. Furthermore, the new Summer Special Series tournament begins in a few days as well. As such, players need to learn the mechanics of the new changes as soon as possible if they’d like to stay competitive.
It’s an exciting time to be a fan. Until tomorrow, drop-in to your favorite places for what may be the last time. We’ll see you on the island.
