After Two Days In A Literal Black Hole, Fortnite Is Back With A New Map, Guns, And Swimming

Over the past two years, Fortnite has dominated the Battle Royale market on PC by making itself into a spectacle.

It did that again this week, when the usual game you could expect was instead sucked into a literal black hole. And now, it's back.

Images courtesy: Epic Games

Fortnite Chapter 2 is finally here, with a new update and a trailer to go with it (down below). And boy has everything changed. Two days after Fortnite began broadcasting utter blackness to anyone that tried to log in, there's new content to be had.

The map you know is gone now. Granted, the Fortnite map has seen so many changes over the past couple of years, with each major update vastly altering the terrain and structures there, that it was barely what it started out to be. But this time around it's been rebuilt from scratch.

Though the familiar old battlebus is still there to fly you in, the rest of the map has been rebooted. Instead, developer Epic has built a brand new island, built in a more wild, untamed aesthetic. There are fewer cities and towns and more greenery, similar to what Fortnite was when it began back in the day. That might change over time, the way the previous map did though.

Aside from that though are a number of new features. You can pilot motorboats for instance, that look like they hold four, or just jump out to swim through the various lakes and streams instead. There's also what looks like a new fishing mechanic, likely to find loot, as well as pogo sticks. Honestly it's all pretty out there, but that's pretty much on brand for Fortnite.

Weapons include what looks like a new rocket launcher, a grenade launcher variant that lets you heal teammates, and more. It also looks like you can hide in the haystacks and dumpsters now, as well as shoot the gas station pumps to explode. You'll now also be able to pick up and relocate downed teammates in order to revive them in a safer location.

And of course, there's a new battle pass subscription that you can pay for in order to unlock tiers and win bonuses as you play. The highlight of these is an adorable blue blob creature skin. This time around though, it's been changed so that you can progress along the battle pass tiers even doing simple things like getting kills or opening chests.