The latest round of Fortnite downtime has begun, starting the clock on the next era of one of the biggest games ever.
Fornite just beat its own previous record, with 14.3 million concurrent players during the recent Remix: The Finale virtual concert.
The downtime makes way for Fortnite v33.10, which is part of Chapter 6 Season 1. And it is going to bring a glut of changes and new content, particularly within Lego Fortnite. It is worth checking if Fortnite is back up already, as the game’s downtime is usually limited to just a few hours.
Here’s a sampler of what’s coming up in the next Season of Fortnite.
Fortnite text chat
A new text chat feature is coming to all Fortnite islands. The maker of the island can choose whether or not to switch on text chat, which enables an interface not dissimilar to that of Twitch chat or a live YouTube stream.
The chat feature is split into three sections: Party Channel, Game Channel and DMs. These play out just as the names suggest. Game Channel will feature everyone else on that island, Party is limited to members of your party and DMs let friends get in contact directly. You can toggle between the three using the LB and RB buttons, if you’re using a gamepad.
What is Lego Brick Life?
Lego Fortnite gets a whole new experience after the release of Fortnite v33.10. From December 12 you can play Lego Fortnite: Brick Life.
This combines the basic movement feel of Lego Fortnite with an “all-new social roleplay experience”, according to Epic Games.
You can get a job and a home, and decorate it in The Sims style. The social side plays out as a series of co-op activities, like beach band practice, taking part in lessons at the Harry Potter-a-like Mourndale Academy and hanging out at “rooftop clubs”.
Here’s the list of jobs you can adopt.
Last time we checked, Scoundrel wasn’t a job, but the Lego Fortnite team appears to be referencing those sociopathic YouTubers who go around pranking ordinary people. “Prank fellow city-goers” is the sell on that one.
Lego Fortnite becomes Lego Fortnite Odyssey
A year on from its release, Lego Fortnite will also be known as Lego Fortnite Odyssey from December 12.
There’s a thematic update to match too, Storm Chasers. It reintroduces Storm King, who first featured in Fortnite in 2019.
