Fortnite Season 4: Why the game in 2020 doesn't feel like Fortnite at all

“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things because we’re curious, and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”

• Walt Disney

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Picture this.

It’s 2017, you’ve just returned home after a taxing day. A tinge of excitement runs down your spine as you boot your device up and start Fortnite. You quickly send an invite to all of your squad, carefully and hastily so — to avoid intruders from joining your party. Right after, you click the glorious ‘Play’ button, diving onto the island for a few hours of adventure.

Playing Fortnite wasn’t a chore; it was something most of us looked forward to. The light-hearted nature of the game, coupled with the fact that you could spend quality time with friends, family and loved ones was what blew it up in the first place. However, if you’ve returned to your PlayStations/PCs hoping to explore the ‘Fortnite’ from 2017, you’re out of luck.

A lot has changed since the early days of Fortnite. From an island that had only a handful of locations to offer, the game has now evolved in ways perhaps no one ever imagined.

Celebrity collaborations are now becoming a Fortnite staple, cinematic crossovers often tie into the storyline, creating surreal experiences for players. And, well… you can’t double pump anymore either. With that in mind, here are a few significant changes that took place over the years, essentially robbing the OG Fortnite vibes from the game.

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Skill-based match-making and bots

On 23rd September 2019, Epic Games, in a blog post, stated that Fortnite would soon see a more ‘balanced’ version of match-making. The move was advertised as a tool to help players match with opponents with similar skill levels, ultimately allowing for an even playing field for everyone. The same announcement also saw the introduction of ‘bots’ in Fortnite for the first time.

The no-sleeves defaults were the apex predator during the OG days of Fortnite (Image Credits: GoldKing)

These NPCs were supposed only to be found in the lowest level lobbies as a medium to help new players get used to the basics. However, shortly after the SBMM and bot update, players realized how broken the mechanics were, which ended up igniting a massive debate in the Fortnite community.

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If it’s fun, it’s out — The policy that Fortnite did not need

The Drum Gun in Fortnite was easily among one of the most controversial weapon's (Image Credits: Epic Games)

Eventually, as people started getting better at the game, complaints began to pour in due to the divide that player skill gaps left. It was ‘pros vs casuals’, and the seemingly harmless micro-battle inside the game ended up costing a lot of fun Fortnite items. The dilemma was simple: casuals enjoyed having fun items, but often proved to be unbalanced.

Planes, bouncers (which came back only recently), grenades, ballers and countless other items were removed from Fortnite for hampering with the balance of the game, and partly to keep the Fortnite competitive integrity intact.

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The Forgotten Fortnite storyline developments

Realistically, the last major Fortnite event strictly related to the storyline was the Doomsday event. Shortly after, we saw Midas depart the in-game narrative abruptly, as the Ghost overlord was last seen being dragged away by a ‘Shark’ during the Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 3 trailer.

Ever since, the narrative has gradually transitioned towards the ‘superhero’ direction. And now, with Fortnite Season 4 ongoing, the original storyline seems to have been left far behind.