A new season of Fortnitehas begun, giving players a new map, new weapons and a new battle pass.
The hit battle royale game concluded its previous season on Monday (15 June), with a special in-game event called “The Device”.
After a short period of downtime on Wednesday morning, players are now able to download the latest Fortnite update, which contains the new content for chapter two, season three.
One of the biggest changes concerns the map, which has now been flooded with water. Several of the new features correspond to this new aquatic locale, including an unlockable Aquaman character skin and the ability to mount and ride sharks.
Players have already reacted positively to the changes, in the short time since the update has gone live.
Ninja, one of the highest-profile Fortnite streamers, wrote on Twitter: “Have not felt this way about Fortnite in awhile. New shotgun adds an entirely different mechanic to fights/build fights since you can charge it. Much more healing items everywhere. Hunting rifle back?! ERRRMAGERd.”
YouTube gamer Muaaz wrote: “Haven’t played the game in like 5 months, genuinely SOO excited to try getting back into it.”
Another player excitedly commented: “ITS AMAZING.”
Chapter two, season two of Fortnite had been themed around the idea of espionage. Monday’s Doomsday event attracted a staggering 12 million players, resulting in technical problems that prevented people from seeing the event first-hand.
In a tweet, developers Epic Games wrote: “We were overwhelmed by the response to The Device. At 12M players in-game, we capped participation for stability while 8.4M more watched live on Twitch + YouTube. As we push the edge of what live-events can be, we’re improving systems so more of you can experience them in-game.”
