Fortnite keeps upping its game, and its latest major update for Chapter 4 Season 2, which ushers in a cyberpunk theme, really shows what it can do.
According to The Verge, this is something that has been brewing for some time and really became apparent when Epic added a “zero build” mode to the battle royale. Without that previously defining build feature, Fortnite had to adapt to give players more mobility options: swimming and sprinting, vehicles like cars and dirtbikes. The additions came slow and steady, but eventually, they made the game feel much speedier and more dynamic.
That’s on full display in the new Mega City location in the game, a sort of sci-fi metropolis that looks like every cyberpunk city you’ve seen before. But hiding amongst the copious holographic billboards and high-rise towers are lots of tools for getting around even faster. According to The Verge, the new addition is rails that you can grind on; it works a lot like the cult classic shooter Sunset Overdrive, letting you essentially move around like in Tony Hawk but without a skateboard.
What’s nice is that, like most of the additions to the game, this speed increase doesn’t feel forced. Only the new metropolis has been turned into a battle royale skatepark. The rest of the island remains intact, and some of the new locations are even pretty chill, including a hot spring area. If you don’t like the faster pace, you can just avoid Mega City. It’s similar to how you can choose to either play with building on or off.
That gradual sense of change is something that is a hallmark of Fortnite, a game that updates and reinvents itself more than almost any contemporary. That’s part of the reason it has stayed relevant for so long. We’re now on the game’s fourth chapter and closing in on six years of a constantly refreshed experience.
The flip side of that whirlwind is that not everything sticks around forever — just ask the seasoned mech suit pilots. The grind rails that make the game so exciting in this moment could be gone in a few weeks or months. But they’re also part of the reason why Fortnite fans keep coming back for more. And at the very least, they’re a good reminder that we’re long overdue for a Sunset Overdrive sequel.
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