During my annual trip to hang out with the boys and watch the Game Awards, I finally played Fortnite. Almost seven years since its incarnation, I played one of the world's most popular games. And I got hooked.

I've already spent far more money than I anticipated.1 The all-in absurdity of Leonardo from TMNT doing the dance from Gangnam Style after sniping Peter Griffin2 transcends the on-paper ridiculousness into a silly and enjoyable game. The battle royale formula is still heart-pumping when you're in the top ten. It reminds me of the rush I got in Factions or when I was fighting for glory in the Crucible with my Fireteam in college.

My immersion into Fortnite is well-timed with their own Roblox-like games within games approach with the Rock Band mode from Harmonix, the racing mode from Psyonix, and the survival mode with Lego. It feels like the time to hop in after so many years of just shrugging Fortnite off.

That doesn't mean I haven't looked at or read about the smash game. I remember these two videos in particular.

Mark Brown of Game Maker's Toolkit did a "mini" episode about how Epic uses FOMO to getcha.3 The bit that always stood out to me though was how you don't have to keep up with a backlog of mechanics. Fortnite constantly refreshes itself and how it plays. This removes the burden of years of mechanical and perceptive debt. I'm out there with the folks that have been playing for ages and am on the same ground (skill not withstanding).

Then, of course, John Linneman of Digital Foundry broke down the use of Unreal Engine Lumen and Nanite tech that was implemented into Fortnite. I remember this video being the first time I thought "maybe I should play Fortnite" because it looked so dang good. Ironically, I'm not playing the pretty version of the game. I've opted for the buttery 120Hz mode on PS5.

I never thought I'd be asking "where we dropping boys?" in a serious manner, but here we are. I wager Fortnite will be a constant game this year for me. We'll see where it all goes, but I do know it won't be the same as when I started.

Footnotes

  1. I had to buy Cell and Frieza. If they ever add Teen Gohan... ↩

  2. I should really ask Roger how he feels about this now. ↩

  3. This is absolutely true. See footnote #1. ↩