The world of Fortnite is expanding this week into some new realms. Lego Fortnite, Rocket Racing, and Fortnite Festival are three new experiences (games) coming to Fortnite throughout the week.
These new live-service games launch inside Fortnite as part of Epic’s growing library of user-generated content. The creative sides of Fortnite have had plenty of custom-made projects in them, from fan creations to Epic’s re-telling of Alan Wake inside Fortnite, and now the scale is climbing higher with three notable launches.
These three games were teased during the recent Fortnite event, some even with playable sections. But what are each of the games? Let’s start at the top with the family-oriented Lego Fortnite.
Lego Fortnite
We don’t have a ton to go off here, other than that Lego Fortnite will be a new Epic adventure taking place within the brick-based world of Lego. Its site describes the experience as the “ultimate survival crafting adventure,” so I think some degree of harvesting resources and building constructs is expected.
Many of the FAQs, at this time of writing, are fairly vague. But one cool note is that a bunch of Fortnite skins have been converted into Lego form for the crossover.
Over 1,200 Outfits have a Lego Style. Obviously, for licensing reasons, this won’t apply to every skin in Fortnite. But I really, really hope we get Lego All Might.
Lego Fortnite goes live on December 7 inside Fortnite.
Rocket Racing
A new racing game from Psyonix seems like a free kick, to use some fitting parlance. Epic purchased Psyonix years ago and brought it under the Epic Games umbrella, and now the studio has a new game inside Fortnite.
From the event video, it seems like it’s a pretty high-octane racer, with some gravity-defying movement options. An arcade racing game from a studio that’s made one of the most fascinating virtual applications of cars in years is definitely one to watch, in my opinion.
Rocket Racing will go live on December 8 inside Fortnite.
Fortnite Festival
Harmonix is another studio Epic has acquired over the years, which makes sense, given Fortnite‘s penchant for live in-game concerts. The subsequent shuttering of online services for FUSER was a huge bummer, though, and Harmonix has felt largely quiet until now, with Fortnite Festival.
Fortnite Festival is billed as a game where players can play in a band or perform solo alongside hit music from various artists. It seems like we got a brief taste of it in the Fortnite Big Bang, where players could tap along to “Lose Yourself” by Eminem.
Fortnite Festival Season 1 will kick off officially on December 9, with The Weeknd as its first in-game Music Icon. What that means isn’t incredibly clear right now. I’m hoping this leads to a new wave of rhythm gaming online with friends. Much as I like tapping along to live concerts, I’d want something I can score-chase and return to, the way I still do with FUSER and Guitar Hero.
We’ll find out more when Season 1 of Fortnite Festival goes live on December 9.
A generated future for Fortnite
It’s a big move to see Epic push Fortnite further into not just a popular battle royale with some creative modes on the side, but a full-on gaming platform. Obvious comparisons can be drawn to Roblox, though I’m personally reminded of old Blizzard games like Warcraft and StarCraft, which had burgeoning custom game scenes that formulated entire genres of their own.
Seeing an official, Epic-led push over three days, and with three heavy hitters, certainly makes me curious about the future of Fortnite. Are we inching ever-closer to a future where Fortnite in-game launches are something to watch for?
I’d need to see the breadth and scope of these to get a better idea. But even worse-case scenario, I’m happy to check out new games from Psyonix and Harmonix. We’ll see how these experiences turn out over the course of three days this weekend.
