A Thinker in Space

If you are up to date on the gaming world (or current culture in general), you may have heard the word “Fortnite” spoken in Elementary Schools, Middle Schools, High Schools, Colleges, and adult gamer circles alike. This cultural sensation has taken the world by storm, suddenly being at the tip of everyone’s tongue. It’s been fascinating to watch – I hadn’t heard any of the buzz about this game until my fianceé’s little brother mentioned it, and ever since then I haven’t stopped hearing its name spoken. Finally, a couple weeks ago, I decided to see what all the fuss is about. And I have to say, I have not been disappointed. This recent gamer craze takes its roots from the novel “The Hunger Games”, which, if you’ve been living under a rock for the past ten years, is a novel about a culture that sends teenagers into a battlefield and has them fight to the death until only one remains. Fortnite does a similar thing. A hundred players are dropped into a map, and the last person standing during this first-person shooter bonanza wins. So where did this come from, where is it going, and, of course, is it any good?

The answer to the first question is actually quite interesting. Before Fortnite, a game called “Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds” was released, which was a realistically rendered last-man-standing wins game almost identical to Fortnite. This game was not very well known, and sold for $40-50. Fortnite actually existed, but was a tower-defense style game. However, when PUBG was released, that game format held a lot of potential, and Fortnite took it and decided to make their own similar gamemode with their own spin. The result was two almost identical games with two completely different styles. But Epic Games knew that the original game was gaining steam, and they wanted to take over that hype. So they did something unheard of – they dropped the price of their premium game to a whopping $0, and released the game on Windows, PS4, and Xbox One (PUBG was only Windows/Xbox). The result was a full game completely free for download, and this grabbed the attention of millions.

As far as we can tell, Fortnite plans to cement itself into the gaming industry. It has just released an app for iPhone/Android, taking over that platform as well, and has done well for itself through micro-transactions. Micro-transactions have recently hit a very negative press storm with the release of Battlefront II, but these are very different from the progression-based lootcrates in BFII. These are purely cosmetics. Cool outfits, parachutes, pickaxes, and emotes. No more, no less. These have absolutely no effect on gameplay, and therefore are a completely appropriate way to monetize the game. The initial package is $10, and though I have not purchased it myself, every server I have played on has had many people who have bought the premium content. So their free game is making them money, allowing them to release updates and new content. It will be interesting to see if they can sustain this business model when the hype dies down, and micro-transactions don’t sell as readily. I guess we will have to wait and see! The mobile game released four days ago, and, just to give you a feel for how popular this game has become, here is a quote from The Rolling Stone‘s article on the mobile release.

According to The Rolling Stone, the game made a whopping one million dollars within the first 72 hours of its release. And this is simply for cosmetics, giving no players any sort of advantage!

Now for the fun part – the actual game. After multiple plays and attempts to win that sweet, sweet first place trophy, I can say with confidence that this game is very well done. The art style is aesthetically pleasing, the gameplay is fast-paced and engaging, and the game is both challenging enough to be enjoyable but simple enough that one does not have to play very much to get used to the mechanics. You can find tons of strategy guides online, but I will give you a basic overview. You start off in a “Battle Bus” (a blue school bus attached to a hot air balloon), and the bus slowly flies over the map.

You then find a location on the map you want to land, and jump out of the bus, using a combination of free-falling and parachuting to arrive at your desired destination. When you get there, you find loot in chests and lying on the ground to add to your inventory, mostly guns (with some other items to find along the way). You use these to eliminate your opponents and try to keep within the ever-shrinking map, striving to use a combination of good aim and stealth to arrive at the fabled #1 spot. As I said, there are plenty of strategy guides to help you out with specifics. But suffice it to say that the game is very well done (and has been consistently updated even in the few weeks I have been playing).

The last piece of the puzzle to share is this: besides the concept, there is absolutely nothing objectionable in this game. It is a first-person shooter, but all deaths are completely blood-free. You don’t even really see a body, as people disappear when they die, leaving their stuff all over the ground to be looted. This is why the game has been so widely loved, and it is quite a nice change from the gritty, bloody style of game that is so popular these days. Fortnite is genuinely a fun experience (albeit frustrating at times) and worth trying out for anyone who would enjoy this type of game. I highly recommend it, and will be looking forward to seeing what kind of content Epic Games has around the corner!