Surviving The Horde In Fortnite’s Early Access

Epic are making a concerted assault on the multiplayer domain this summer, or should that be defence? Their latest game is the multiplayer survival ’em up Fortnite, which will doubtless feel familiar to fans of Epic’s own Gears of War Horde mod. Some of the same beats are at work here, with weighty third-person gunplay tied to scavenging, crafting, and building defenses from which to survive the oncoming hordes of the undead.

It’s a world away from the serious sci-fi of Epic’s other current multiplayer offering Paragon, instead opting for a lighter tone more akin to Plants vs. Zombies or Borderlands, which ties in very nicely with the comic book-esque art style. You start out with access to Ramirez, a tough soldier, but you’ll soon be able to access various other character classes, ranging from the Constructor to the Ninja, each of which boasts their own sets of skills and advantages.

Besides Epic’s trademark chunky third-person combat, a tap of a button puts you into build mode, and it’s from here that you can construct your fortress from which to defend yourself, the survivors and equipment that are vital to your ongoing efforts. You can cycle through different types of wall, floor, steps and roofs, with a transparent version of these construction blocks appearing in front of you in any applicable spots, before you actually set it in place with the right trigger.

Once set, you can then edit them further to make doors or lower walls, before adding in a variety of traps for when any Husks get a little too close. There are elements to it that reminded me of the under-appreciated Starhawk, though you have to hope that Fortnite will have rather more longevity. It’s very intuitive, so even when panic is beginning to set in, it’s possible to rebuild – or continue building – further defences. It’s very satisfying, though when a group of you get together you’ll probably need some agreement as to who is doing what lest you find yourself with a fortress that doesn’t have enough walls.

The opening quests serve as a full tutorial which eases you into the action. While it walks you through scavenging, crafting, combat, and building, the rest of the game’s overarching systems are left as something of an enigma. They are locked away from you at first anyway, but it doesn’t stop you puzzling over them and wasting your time trying to see when they’ll come into play.

Progress and XP are not just linked to playing the game, but also to logging in daily. Founders automatically receive loot as well, so getting in early will definitely reap you some serious rewards, from experience boosters through to extra weaponry. Epic have done a decent job of making early adopters feel valued despite a few rough edges.

As you advance, you earn skill points and research points to spend in their respective trees, with three tiers available for both. Each of those tiers are huge, and it so far feels as though the upgrades meted out are often too benign, making progress feel distinctly slow.

Amongst your collectibles are survivor cards, who you can add to your squad set-up in order to boost your overall effectiveness. Each survivor offers a particular bonus as well, which can be matched with other survivors to gain even more power, whether it’s in Fortitude, Offense, Resistance or Tech – F.O.R.T. get it? It’s a system that works well enough, and has you checking out how they’ll interplay with those you’ve already put time into, though the icons aren’t incredibly clear so you’ll just end up scrolling until you find the right fit.

As a whole, there are a lot of systems at work in Fortnite, almost overwhelmingly so, and it doesn’t do the best job of explaining them all to you at first. Virtually everything in the game can be levelled up, from characters and weaponry, through to a collection book that you can fill for further rewards. It’s all either going to ensure you’ve got a constant level of progression somewhere, or prove to be annoying in the long term. Having settled into it though, it does all tie together.

Despite the word ‘free’ in ‘free to play game’, Epic are most definitely still after your money, and there are numerous ways that they’re probably going to get it, first of which is that you’ll have to wait until next year for Fortnite to actually be free to play. As it stands you can dive straight into this paid early access with one of the founders packs, which gives you a nice chunk of gear and access to an array of characters, while you can also buy Vinderbucks which are used to purchase Upgrade Llamas.

That’s right, some of your loot is packed into llama piñata, which you smash open to release the goodies inside, while they spout some final words. There’s definitely more than a few nods to Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, both aesthetically and in terms of the light humour throughout – amongst my favourite moments have been the Trip Advisor-styled reviews from survivors you’ve saved, read and reacted to, all delivered by the Ashly Burch-voiced robot Ray. There are touches of various other recent hero shooters as well, including Overwatch and Battleborn, but there’s a generic quality to Fortnite’s characters that keeps it from standing out, visually speaking at least.

As a starting point, there’s a heck of a lot to like about Fortnite, from its light humour to its chunky combat, but it’s the building that is really the star of the show. There’s nothing quite like constructing a huge fortress with others and then sniping at the undead as they lollop towards it, and Fortnite has that bit nailed. The scavenging, crafting and progression systems, and the way in which they’re explained could definitely do with some tweaking, and there’s a further question mark over how much Epic want you to spend in the long term too. Having said that, for fans of cooperative multiplayer, Fortnite is already a title well worth investing in.