The video game Fortnite: Battle Royale was originally released October 26, 2017, with the first season, Season 1. This shooter game created by American video game developer Epic Games, quickly blew up about everywhere. Suddenly, several YouTubers, streamers, and regular people worldwide were playing this little game, recreating the in-game emotes in real life, and having fun getting “Victory Royales” with their friends. Fortnite was quick to become a cultural phenomenon.
For 10 seasons of the game, players battled it out on the same game map. With every season, there were little changes here and there to the map, but overall it was the same.
“I was goated,” boasted senior Maya Martinez. “I played Fortnite with my friends every day for all of sixth grade,” she further mused: “I loved it. It was perfect.”
Players grew attached to locations such as “Tilted Towers,” “Loot Lake,” and more; however, following the tenth season, something strange happened. Players opened the game to have their game sucked into a black hole. For 36 hours, the game was nothing but a still image of a black hole. Then, when it was finally gone, players were introduced to Fortnite: Chapter 2, Season 1. The game now featured a variety of new changes such as a new map, different weapons, and more; the game fans grew to love was now different.
Fortnite: Chapter 2 continued for eight seasons, then there was Chapter 3, then Chapter 4, the current chapter. Throughout this time, fans begged Epic Games to bring the game back to its roots and bring back the Chapter 1 map. This continued until Chapter 4, Season 5, in which Epic Games finally listened to the fans and gave them what they wanted: “OG” (or “original”) Fortnite; this return is focused on Chapter 1: Season 5. Epic Games has said that the game will be updated throughout the rest of the season, and that “each major update will bring a different phase of Battle Royale’s past.”
This new update has made fans rejoice and has encouraged millions of players who haven’t played in a long time to take the game for a spin once again. On the very first day of the update, the game had an unprecedented 44.7 million players. After six years, Fortnite had its biggest day of all time.
“We are SO BACK BABY. First time dropping in Retail Row!” posted Tyler Blevins, better known by his streamer name Ninja, before playing his first game of the season. Ninja was an extremely popular Fortnite streamer at the height of its original popularity.
This season, unlike others, will only last four weeks, so if you’re looking to get on the Battle Bus and play the original Fortnite map, you better hurry.
