In Fortnite the OG hype has broken out: A lot of fans are tuning in again to have fun on the old map of the Battle Royale. MeinMMO author Max Handwerk has also jumped on the nostalgia train and doesn’t actually want to get off anymore.
It was the moment 0:04 in the trailer for Fortnite OG that sealed the deal for me to grab my brother on Friday evening to check out Fortnite again after a long time.
Because at that moment, a huge, battered sign with the word “Motel” was visible for a brief moment: The spot where we used to land countless times to face off against 98 other players in the battle for the epic victory.
We embed the trailer here:
Admittedly, we were never the greatest masters of this game. That’s why we devised a “route” back then that should take us through the worst of it towards the endgame.
From the motel, we went to the “umbrella” – a small, unnamed spot full of rocks. From there, we sneaked either across the golf course towards Wailing Woods or across Loot Lake towards Tilted Towers and Shifty Shafts. Depending on how the storm guided us (and of course, whether we survived long enough).
On the way, we naturally looted properly. And if we managed to stay in until the end, the chances weren’t so bad that we could secure a victory or two. Not the most exciting route on the map, of course – the fiercest duels take place in the center of the map. But eventually, we internalized the route so much that it became “our route.”
Fortnite is constantly evolving – and that’s what makes it special
Over the years, our route continued to dissolve, map changes and new game elements transformed Fortnite again and again into a new game. And that is actually what makes the game so good in my view: Fortnite keeps reinventing itself.
Whether it was Kamehameha-shooting anime characters, UFOs, raptors, flame bows, or lightsabers: You can always be sure that something new awaited you soon in Fortnite. It doesn’t shy away from any change and even shook its own foundations when it introduced the “zero-build mode” – which also received a good response.
This adaptability is what makes Fortnite stand out from almost any other game. And yet player numbers are currently shooting up because instead of moving forward, it’s taking five steps, or years, back. And I can understand that well.
Now the route is back
On Friday evening, we logged in anyway, waited about a quarter-hour in the waiting queue, boarded the Battle Bus, and jumped onto the new, old map.
And there it was again: our route. Our motel. The poorly controllable shopping carts that were one of Fortnite’s first attempts at vehicles. The powerful rocket launchers, the way too strong shotgun, and the blocky trees that were animated very clumsily by today’s standards.
And of course the strong opponents who were already better than us back then and apparently still are. But that doesn’t matter! At least we made it to 3rd place once.
All of this feels exactly as it did back then – just combined with the better movement and the fancier graphics that later updates brought to Fortnite.
It feels a bit like when you’ve moved and several years later pass by your old house or walk around your old neighborhood. There’s a new store or a fresh coat of paint here and there, but you constantly have that “Oh yeah, remember…” effect. And that just brings a lot of joy.
The season lasts only a month, and maybe the OG feeling will fade after a few days – we’ll see. Maybe then you’ll also look forward to the typical innovations that Fortnite will certainly bring again. But: For the first moment, Fortnite has hit the mark with its leap into the past.
What do you think of the current season? Tell us in the comments!
The season also brought a new Battle Pass with new versions of old skins, but the author Christos Tsogos sees a problem with it.
