I’ll be honest, I played Fortnite Battle Royale a bit when it came out, and I’ve kept popping in for new seasons here and there over the past year. And now there is Chapter 2.

Am I a fan? Yeah, I guess so. Uncool as it may be, I love the ever-changing world, the effort put into new season cinematics, event modes and the continual stream of content.

I haven’t played often, and I’ve never won a solos match (well…..I have, but not until the other day). Fortnite is a bit of a guilty pleasure if I’m honest. But in all honesty, it is a pleasure none-the-less and I’ve never had a bad time with it.

Seeing it evolve and change, and appear to be a living, breathing world has been really cool, and massive props to Epic for doing it all for free (obviously there’s plenty of income in-game) as the base game is free and you never have to buy anything if you don’t want to.

There were 10 seasons of the Battle Royale, each of which saw new weapons, skins, changes to the map, DJ sets, cross-over events and on and on. If you want a game to constantly give you something new to look at, Fortnite has been the place to be.

Then, suddenly at the end of Season X, the whole map was sucked into a black hole, and players were left with nothing. Just a black screen for a couple of days. Bold!

Chapter 2

So here we are, the world of Fortnite Battle Royale has been re-born with Chapter 2. I can’t claim to know all of the changes, but I can tell you this.

There a whole new map, everything looks better, new mechanics like swimming and fishing, and most importantly (to me). Epic has been able to essentially start again, trimming the fat of all those battle passes and new gear they’ve been throwing in over the past 12 months.

One big change has been the addition of bots.

Suddenly, you’re actually getting some nice, easy kills. Sure it kind of kills the “Battle Royale” element, because these bots aren’t great, and it removes the human vs human elements on occasion. But it definitely helped me settle back into the game a bit.

In my very first game, I was able to get my first ever solo “Victory Royale”, and I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure if I’d somehow cheated or only fought bots. After a bit of research and asking about on Reddit, it turns out there was a mix of bots and humans, and I had actually earned my umbrella.

Awesome.

Fortnite is perhaps a bit easier now, then? Well, yes and no. Bots mean you’re getting kills and the player count is dropping quicker in a match. However, you’re still going into those final circles against real people, so it’s just as sweaty.

Perfect timing

The best part about Chapter 2 starting, was the fact that this came out at the same time I started my review of the Turtle Beach Battle Buds.

My love for the genre had already been re-kindled, and now I had a new world to play in, too.

The audio is solid, particularly when it comes to directional awareness. Footsteps, gunshots, building and grenades. You know what’s going on and where. Absolutely critical in the genre.

With a game so perceived as “for kids” Fortnite is a highly polished spectacle and really, in that respect, the pinnacle of the genre. It isn’t my favourite (PUBG for life!), but it’s genuinely very good.

If you love a Battle Royale game, and you love well-made, highly-polished, free games. You’d do far worse than spend some time in Fortnite.

I’ve had the even greater pleasure of being able to use my account on both Xbox and Nintendo Switch. So my progress is carried over to wherever I’m playing. It’s a bit daft because I don’t really care for the rewards, but if I’m going to be unlocking XP, I’d rather be doing it all for one pot, instead of two separate ones.

Working away has seen me grabbing 15 minutes here and there on hotel WiFi and jumping from the battle bus, having a great time.

This isn’t the Fortnite you think you know, this is a refined, better experience, honed and built on the massive success of the past 12 months. If you played and enjoyed it, but let its success and chaos put you off (it did me!), I’d highly suggest jumping in again and seeing what’s going on.

Damn, it’s free, what’s stopping you?

Fortnite: Chapter 2 – Battle Royale reborn was written by our guest writer Ben from ninjarefinery.com. Find more guest written articles on our site by clicking HERE.