Fortnite’s Season 5 launched today, and it’s bringing a lot of changes.
The newest season for the battle royale game is based around the story of a rocket launch gone wrong. The rocket created a huge crack in the sky which has lead to a shift in the space-time continuum. Because of this, ancient items such as statues and Viking ships are now spread out across the map. There are also rifts that appear all over that will allow players to jump in one and teleport to a different point in the sky. Another change to the map is that Moisty Mire is completely gone. It has been replaced by a desert outpost region with a main point of interest (POI) of Paradise Palms. There is also a new golf course, Lazy Links, added to the map.
Upgrading from the carts of season four, we now have the All Terrain Kart, or ATK. Fortnite’s first proper vehicle, the ATK can hold an entire squad of four players. Using drift correctly will give the ATK a speed boost, and when all four seats are filled the rear passengers can work together when going over obstacles to give the Kart a higher jump. The cover of the ATK also acts as a bounce pad!
Epic Games made many other changes, mostly bug fixes; here are a few of them:
- The center of Storm circles 7, 8, and 9 can now shift in random directions (instead of simply shrinking). As the storm closes in, it will move & shrink to the new location.
- Starting in Season 5, progressive challenges will no longer be restricted to a single season. You can now complete progressive challenges at your own pace.
- Progressive challenges are now completed by acquiring a fixed amount of XP and is no longer dependant on your season level.
- Gyro/motion controls have been added to the Nintendo Switch. Adjust these options in the Settings menu.
- Weekly challenges are now split into two sections, free and Battle Pass. The first 3 challenges will be available for free while the last 4 are only available if you own the Battle Pass. The threshold to unlock the weekly challenge reward will remain at 4.
- Down But Not Out players now have smaller collision. Previously their collision was at the standing height which blocked DBNO players from crawling under doors and blocked building collision in some cases.
- Players that were crouching when knocked Down But Not Out will be returned to a crouching state upon revival.
- Emoting will now interrupt sprinting.
- You now earn XP for reviving teammates in 50v50 and Teams of 20 LTMs up to three times per match (30XP, 10XP, 10XP).
- Weapon reticle will now fade slightly when reloading, out of ammo, or changing weapons.
- The player camera can now see out of the water when walking in lakes.
You can find the rest of the changes here.
