The page has turned on another chapter of Fortnite Battle Royale, with Chapter 5 Season 1 beginning today after the conclusion of the game’s hugely successful 2018 throwback season. The new season brought not only a new map and weapons, but also a somewhat contentious revamp of the game’s movement animations. I’m just stuck on the Peter Griffin boss fight, though.
The Family Guy protagonist is joined by some of my favorite characters, Oscar, Nisha, Montague, and Valeria (I don’t know who these people are) in some manner of sinister society of PvE bosses on the island. Mechanically, they’re kind of sick: killing one confers a medallion that regenerates your shield over time, and stacking medallions speeds up the effect, but also shows your position to enemy players with increasing accuracy.
The new season’s biggest and most controversial change is the revamped character animations. Epic demoed what appear to be smoother, more naturalistic running and crouch walking animations, but players are complaining that they feel slow and sluggish compared to before, with comments under Epic Twitter posts and a YouTube showcase of the animations calling for a return to the old system.
The new map changes seem exciting though—I particularly like the look of Reckless Railways, a train actively running through the island that seems to lend itself to fun shootouts (as well as a new way to get around). The Grand Glacier Hotel also looks like a particularly characterful addition to the island.
Chapter 5 also introduces a slew of new weapons, most notably a Halo Infinite-style grapple hook and a weapon modding system. We’ll see how things pan out with those movement animations, but otherwise? Chapter 5 Season 1 seems like a strong follow-up to Fortnite’s record-breaking throwback season.