Aside from a new map and mechanics, Fortnite Chapter 4 introduces more guest characters like Doom Slayer and The Witcher’s Geralt.
Over the weekend, the Fracture event brought an end to Fortnite’s surprisingly short third chapter and, after some downtime, was soon followed with the beginning of Chapter 4.
As per usual, the island map was destroyed, but has been reformed in outer space, meaning players will have to relearn the lay off the land, as well as get accustomed to all the new mechanics and features.
On top of that, anyone who plays the game on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC can enjoy new visual upgrades that are only possible with Unreal Engine 5.
The environments have become far more detailed, ray-tracing adds reflections on glossy materials and water, there’s real-time lighting, and certain skins that glow will scatter their light on nearby objects.
Another upgrade called Temporal Super Resolution also means the game can include these high quality visuals while maintaining a high frame rate.
Epic Games goes into more detail over on its website, although the real meat and potatoes are the new gameplay additions and character cameos, since, unsurprisingly, Chapter 4 has already confirmed several guest stars for its battle pass.
First is the Doom Slayer from Bethesda’s Doom games, something that was rumoured roughly a year ago. He’s so far the only guest character available and can be unlocked at level 26 of the battle pass.
The timing is a bit odd considering Fortnite’s guest cameos mostly serve to promote and advertise other products, but Bethesda doesn’t have any new Doom related plans at the moment and there hasn’t been a new entry since 2020’s Doom Eternal.
Perhaps Bethesda has an announcement for something soon (it is The Games Awards this week) or maybe it and Epic Games were only able to reach an agreement for Doom Slayer’s inclusion for this new season.
The gameplay trailer also confirms Geralt from The Witcher games (the image of Geralt holding a gun and flossing already hurts our brain) though don’t be surprised if Epic Games throws in a skin that turns him into Henry Cavill (or Liam Hemsworth) from the Netflix series.
In addition, Fortnite is teasing another anime crossover, specifically with superhero series My Hero Academia, though the trailer only briefly shows its main protagonist Deku using his superpowers to create a shockwave.
Lastly is another Marvel cameo, this time from the Hulk, depicted in the cinematic trailer riding a dirt bike through space. Dirt bikes are another new addition to Fortnite, letting you zip across the map, pull off tricks, and continue firing your guns at opponents.
The other main inclusion is something called Reality Augments. These are essentially mid-match buffs that you’ll randomly receive at intervals, and you’ll be given two at a time.
There are 22 of them and the Fortnite website has shared a few examples, such as Light Fingers, which makes weapons that use light ammo reload faster, and Soaring Sprints, which lets you jump higher.
Epic Games hasn’t shared an end date for Chapter 4’s first season, but ever reliable dataminer HYPEX on Twitter claims that it’ll run until March 10, so you’ve got three months to see everything the season has to offer.
Fortnite is available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC.
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