Aliens Have Invaded Fortnite And Players Can Fight Back With Extraterrestrial Weapons And Tech
Players are in for an out of this world experience as Fortnite recently launched its latest update – Chapter 2 – Season 7 – on June 8th, 2021 with a heavy focus on the science fiction genre – appropriately titled ‘Invasion’. And while there was no LIVE or SOLO Event to help progress the story and celebrate the NEW theme with player interactions as previously done, fans were still treated to a trailer that saw the arrival of a mysterious alien spaceship, an explosive opening attack, and the reemergence of The Imagined Order (IO) under the command of Doctor Slone whom fans might remember briefly hearing from during the Zero Crisis Finale and also confirmed to be the boss of Agent Jones.
Fortnite Invasion introduces several important changes to the popular Battle Royale game including the Island itself – most notably that the Primal Biome is no longer present and has been replaced with purple grass and alien flora. The IO has also established several Research Laboratories and Radar Dishes at various locations across the map which are heavily guarded by IO Guards and Doctor Slone herself. The fight is tough but players have the opportunity to pick up some powerful and sophisticated technology to help them combat the alien invaders.
Some of the NEW weapons in Fortnite Invasion include the Recon Scanner which allows players to survey the surrounding area and detect nearby enemy players as well as other helpful resources including Loot Chests, Vending Machines, and Ammo Crates for a short period of time. Other weapons available to players are the Rail Gun which fires a powerful shot once charged that will deal an impressive amount of damage in addition to shooting through walls and the Flexible Pulse Rifle with alien tech including the Kymera Ray Gun and more as the invasion continues!
Players can also hijack a UFO found inside an IO base – look for blue smoke – or by shooting them down from the sky and eliminate opponents from above with a plasmic energy blast or by picking them up with the tractor beam. Anything that is not bolted down can be moved including players and vehicles; just keep an eye on the battery level.
Crafting has also returned with a NEW ingredient for players to collect – Nuts and Bolts – which can be found throughout the Island and used to construct weapons that have been previously vaulted including the Burst Assault Rifle and Rapid Fire SMG for a limited time. Players can fully embrace the Invasion theme with the Kymera Outfit – a customizable alien creature with additional options accessible by retrieving Alien Artifacts which can be found on the Island or inside Cosmic Chests which offer some premium loot including Epic and Legendary graded weapons. Each style can be purchased with increasing denominations to mix and match as players see fit; choose between different head shapes, eye colours, skin patterns, armour colours, and more!
Battle Pass Changes
Not only did the alien invasion alter the Fortnite Island in general, it also influenced and overhauled the entire progression and leveling system of the Battle Pass, providing players with the opportunity to unlock rewards in whatever order they desire. As a result, Battle Stars have made their triumphant return to the game with players earning five (5) stars upon ranking up with each subsequent level which can then be used to unlock any cosmetic or V-Buck reward.
Cosmetics are spread out across Battle Pass Pages which contain ten (10) items per page and vary between three (3) and seven (7) Battle Stars in order to unlock each individual item. These rewards can be unlocked in any order with some exceptions – each page has a special locked reward that can only be redeemed once all other items have been unlocked including the Sunny Outfit and Guggimon Outfit. More pages will become available as players redeem their rewards from previous pages; an option to purchase Battle Pass Levels is also available which quickly advances player levels to unlock pages and rewards at a faster pace through the spending of V-Bucks.
During the opening trailer for Fortnite Invasion, players were treated to a truly mind blowing cameo with Rick Sanchez from the Adult Swim animated comedy Rick and Morty making an appearance alongside Doctor Slone, later confirmed to be the Level 100 Battle Pass reward. Other items include the Butter Robot Back Bling, Rick’s Portal Wrap, The Rickiverse Loading Screen, Rick’s UFO Cruiser Glider, Hammerhead Morty Pickaxe, Interstellar Rick Spray, The Rick Dance Emote, and the *Buurrrpp* Emotion. A Toxic Rick Outfit Style is available as a Bonus Reward for twenty (20) Battle Stars with more to be revealed in the coming days; Pickle Rick would be perfection!
The fifth season of Rick and Morty is scheduled to premiere on June 20th, 2021 at 11PM EST on Adult Swim with a total of ten (10) episodes.
Rounding out the Battle Pass rewards is the Mystery Reward which typically involves a special crossover character from another property or real world individual as of recently. Sticking with the alien theme, Fortnite Invasion appropriately selected the Man of Steel (Clark Kent/Superman) as the Mystery Reward for Season 7 and will arrive in approximately two months.
The items will include the Clark Kent Outfit, Call To Action Emoticon, Superman Shield Spray, The Daily Planet Back Bling, Secret Identity Built-In Emote, Kal-El’s Cape Glider, The Last Son of Krypton Loading Screen, Solitude Striker Pickaxe, Clark Kent (Shadow) Outfit Style, and a DC Series Banner Icon. Previous Mystery Rewards include Predator (Season 5) and professional Brazilian football (soccer) player Neymar Jr. (Season 6) which were both exclusive to Battle Pass owners.
Fortnite is available now on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One X, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 Pro, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch Lite, Windows PC, and Android devices.
