Fortnite’s Blizzards Hint At What We’ve Been Waiting For All Season

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Credit: Epic Games

It’s been an immensely quiet start to Chapter 2 here in Fortnite, but now it would seem that there’s a storm brewing, in a literal sense. Players have begun running into short-term squalls in the game, whipping in with savage winds and dramatically reduced visibility. Here’s what they look like in-game, as captured by Youtuber RoyaleMishMash:

As many have noted, the “Chaos Rising” loading screen, which seems in a broad sense connected to whatever is going to happen with the rest of this season, has some images of snowy weather in it. Which feels noteworthy, because we’ve got more than a month left in this season with no real roadmap for what’s going to happen. The plot has been more or less silent since the black hole drama at the beginning of the season, but Epic is going to have to fill January somehow: Star Wars and Winterfest have handled the end of December well enough, but there’s time yet left.

Until now, the snowstorms are in and of themselves pretty great. They remind me of the meteorites that fell to the map way back at the end of Season 3 as a prelude to the eventual impact at Dusty Depot. They’re not a one-time event of the kind we’ve seen so many of since then, they’re a part of a continuing event that make a real impact on gameplay. Back then, building became a tricky proposition as meteorites ripped apart endgame structures. This time around, the snowstorms mix up the long game and neuter both your ability to look and listen for your opponents, doubling down on those horror game elements that battle royale has always had, especially in solo mode. There’s something about the idea that cooperates well with lightsabers, as well.

We’ll see if the snowstorms dissipate, intensify or transform into something else entirely: any movement is good movement, at this point. There are shades here of the Ice King event from back around this time last year, but I’m hoping we get something a little more interesting than ice zombies before the month is out. Let’s hope.

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