Earlier today, Epic Games announced a slew of new information regarding Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 2. The developers discussed the extension of Season 1 after leaks surfaced yesterday. Now, instead of Feb. 6, Fortnite Season 2 will begin on Feb. 20. While this might seem bad at first glance, Epic also shared some intel on why Season 2 is taking so long. According to them, Fortnite will transition over to the Chaos Engine for the second season of Chapter 1. They’ll still be on the Unreal Engine, but this is a new system within that engine.
What is the Chaos Engine?
Essentially, the Chaos Engine is a new physics system within the Unreal Engine. As the name suggests, this system is all about the destruction of buildings and structures, which Fortnite specializes in. You can see a trailer of the engine in action below.
As the trailer shows, this engine allows for total destruction of buildings. However, unlike Fortnite in its current state, we can now see the effects of blowing a structure up. Debris and other large chunks of that building remain visible after the event.
So, what does this mean for Fortnite and Season 2? Presumably, Epic will introduce destructible environments like we’ve never seen in-game. It’s likely that when you knock down a house with your pickaxe, you’ll see the effects of actually destroying that house.
How this affects actual gameplay is a toss-up, however. Perhaps the debris from the fallen buildings will damage players if they stand directly underneath it? Also, we’re unsure if this new physics system applies to player-built structures. If you shoot at a wood wall, could the Chaos Engine explode the wood and hurt players within its vicinity?
We don’t have a ton of details yet, as Epic has retracted much of the information in their blog post. However, we should find out more leading up to the release of Season 2.
Make sure to keep up with Daily Esports for all future Fortnite news.
