Fortnite: Battle Royale no longer lives up to its name in the new game mode “Horde Rush”. The new mode has nothing to do with Battle Royale at all.
What is Horde Rush? I, Jürgen, was quite surprised when I started a round of the new game mode Horde Rush in Fortnite: Battle Royale.
Because I actually expected a squad version of the now repeatedly returning zombie mode, where monsters, in addition to the other players, were after me.
Instead, the new mode is pure PvE. I started with three other players over a tiny storm circle. There we could quickly gear up and build a small fort. Shortly after, hordes of non-zombies were storming in, and we shot at everything we could.
Four against the non-zombies
This is how the round continued: After we held out long enough and racked up a bunch of points for killed monsters, suddenly our little storm circle started to move and we had to roam through the open heath for a while.
Meanwhile, the monster horde continued to spawn and pressed us hard. As the storm moved mercilessly, we had to be extremely careful not to step into the storm while fleeing from the enemies and lose more valuable health points. Those can only be regained from kills.
Eventually, we reached a safe zone again and we could prepare for the onslaught. Those who went down along the way could respawn after painful minutes, but during that time, the remaining players were pressed even harder. In the last phase, you are even permanently dead if you go down!
Finally, we reached the last circle, badly depleted, and there even came a big boss with tons of hit points. With one last effort, the last remaining player from the team managed to take down the big boss.
This is the reward: In return, we got a high score and progress on the new challenges for the event. The grand prize is, by the way, a cool, animated skin. But until then, you have to slay gigantic hordes of non-zombies.
No Battle Royale, but unfortunately awesome
That’s why the new mode “Save the World” is in turbo: Anyone who, like me, played the original Fortnite back then, will find a lot familiar in Horde Rush. Because just like in the PvE mode “Save the World”, you have a short amount of time to fortify yourself before the enemies come crashing at you in huge hordes.
However, unlike back in Save the World, everything here runs much faster and less tactically, but is significantly more action-packed. You don’t have classes, NPC companions, and pre-built plans for complex death traps.
Instead, you have plenty of weapons, ammunition, and action. Especially in between the safe zones, the adrenaline rushes up hard and your heart rate skyrockets. Because no matter how many enemies go down, more and more keep coming, and the storm sweeps you away mercilessly if you take too long.
Jürgen’s conclusion: Optimal for between
After I got past my initial surprise in the new mode, I soon had a lot of fun. The endless hordes can still be easily taken down at first. It’s really fun to mow down the stupid non-zombies one after another.
But then it becomes more and more and they come from all sides. And then the ammunition runs low. And then the damn storm moves too! And the big zombie in front of me just won’t die, and I’m running out of shotgun ammo! Help!
The new mode brings both excitement and adrenaline as well as achievements and fun action because you’re constantly shooting something and never have downtime.
That’s what always bothered me in “Save the World”, having to wait so long for the action. Everything here happens faster and more dynamically.
As far as I’m concerned, the new mode can stay in the game longer. Especially because mobile players of Fortnite finally get to enjoy a PvE mode. Save the World is still only available for PC and consoles.
