Donald Mustard, the chief artistic officer at Epic and principal architect of the Fortnite Battle Royale storyline, is retiring. It’s an enchanting time for a change like this for Fortnite–the storyline in Battle Royale has been in shambles for greater than a 12 months, and it is solely gotten worse with each new season in Chapter 4.
I’m not saying that is Mustard’s fault. It appears unlikely that the storyline we have seen play out this 12 months. Instead, as with most video video games, the story has taken a backseat to many different issues. When Epic modifications its plans for one thing, the writers must roll with it–even if it is not attainable to take action whereas maintaining it coherent. While Fortnite’s Marvel-esque story wasn’t overly coherent in 12 months, up to now you might at the least monitor the large image from season to season. Not anymore.
Please use a html5 video succesful browser to observe movies.
This video has an invalid file format.
Sorry, however you possibly can’t entry this content material!
Please enter your date of beginning to view this video
By clicking ‘enter’, you comply with GameSpot’s
Now Playing: Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 4 LAST RESORT Gameplay Trailer
Epic is so tight-lipped about, nicely, all the things, that we do not have lots of arduous information concerning the varied ways in which Epic has pivoted off its plans–technically, we do not actually have any agency proof that it pivoted in any respect.
But a new Fortnite leak would possibly give us a giant clue: It signifies that the present season, Last Resort, with its new map areas and heist actions, might have been meant for Chapter 4 Season 2 means again in March of this 12 months. This is firmly in rumor territory, however that is the kind of factor that, if true, would assist clarify why the general Fortnite story has been damaged down for therefore lengthy.
The particulars right here, which have been datamined somewhat than coming from an insider supply at Epic or another studio engaged on the sport, say among the recordsdata associated to the most important new areas in Last Resort are marked as “s24,” which means they belong to Season 24 of Fortnite. The downside? This present season, Chapter 4 Season 4, is Season 26.
This is not arduous proof that Chapter 4 Season 2 was positively speculated to be heist season, but it surely does make lots of sense. Each season in Chapter 4 has been self-contained, circuitously following up on what occurred instantly earlier than, though what occurred instantly earlier than was often a tease for what was coming subsequent.
Let’s return to Chapter 4 Season 1. That season, dubbed Oathbound, concerned a personality named The Ageless–he was the boss who roamed The Citadel, and a snapshot of the founding father of the Imagined Order–and one other, Rift Warden Stellan, organising some form of portal on the behest of an entity known as the Shapeless Man. The AI A.M.I.E. was very involved about this portal, which may connect with different realities, and she or he needed to make use of it to save lots of The Scientist–one of the members of the the Seven who was eaten by Chrome in the beginning of Chapter 3 Season 4. After A.M.I.E.’s questline ended, Stellan claimed someone had modified the coordinates within the portal and locked them, and that one thing unhealthy was in all probability going to return out of it.
Separate from that, we acquired the Most Wanted occasion on the finish of Season 1. That occasion had some plot: We have been serving to a legal faction known as the Most Wanted steal stuff from vaults belonging to a rival group known as the Cold Blooded. It’s unimaginable not to attract a line from this occasion to the heist-centric Last Resort. But we’ll circle again to that.
Cut to Season 2. Mega City fell out of the rift within the sky though it landed on the alternative finish of the island from the place the rift was, and the Japan biome joined the island. Neither A.M.I.E. nor Stellan, nor the Most Wanted or Cold Blooded, have been referenced in any respect since then. There was a single reference to The Ageless in Season 3, however nothing illuminating within the least. The solely reference to the Seven since Season 1 is a calendar in Eclipsed Estates that exhibits every member’s image.
In Season 2, the plot concerned serving to a bunch of Mega City crime syndicates–not the Most Wanted or Cold Blooded, though the latter nonetheless had their vaults all around the place–get together with one another with the intention to defeat the specter of a creepy man named Triarch Nox and his Unseen syndicate, who’s attempting to wreak havoc on the island for causes which can be by no means revealed. During the final month of the season, earthquakes started to often rock the island, and as soon as Season 3 started, an enormous part of the island collapsed and revealed a dense jungle beneath.
Apparently Slone, a long-absent villain within the plot, had been caught down there performing archeological analysis to find out about some historic and highly effective individuals who used to reside on the island earlier than leaving for area. But this entire factor with the syndicates hasn’t been talked about since, and people characters have not been related in any respect.
And now we have arrived on the precise heist season. There’s a time-traveling vampire named Kado Thorne who’s been stealing stuff from the island’s previous, and as gamers, we have been tasked with breaking into his vaults to steal them again. How did we get right here? It could also be an intentional thriller. Or possibly there merely is not an evidence.
Do you get the image but? Each season this chapter has basically been a standalone story that has little or nothing to do with no matter simply occurred, with every new season simply stepping into what appears like a random new route that does not make a lot sense. These do not feel like anthological tales, however somewhat a disjointed try and sew collectively the sport’s long-standing serialized plot amid a 12 months that, for causes we do not know publicly, has apparently seen lots of shuffling inside Fortnite. The concept that Epic one way or the other swapped out a deliberate season for a totally totally different one could be very interesting in that context: It’s a straightforward factor in charge for the story falling aside, actually.
There are causes to purchase it. The Cold Blooded, as talked about, would make identify for a syndicate of vampires. But the large one might be simply that Kado Thorne’s home is within the place the place the portal was in Season 1, whereas all the brand new map points of interest added in Season 2 have been on the far finish of the island from it. So whereas we now have nothing that confirms any of this, we do have lots of lingering proof to counsel it is true, even when we might by no means know why the seasons acquired moved round.
Regardless of what the particular reason behind the issue is, the issue itself stays: Fortnite’s story is totally uncontrolled, and now not tracks from season to season. And now Donald Mustard, aka the man in control of this facet of Fortnite, is on the best way out the door. I don’t know what occurs from right here.
The merchandise mentioned right here have been independently chosen by our editors.
GameSpot might get a share of the income in the event you purchase something featured on our web site.
