4/5 ★ – kubachowicki_'s review of Fortnite.

I have deleted Fortnite (again), but this time I do not really have any intention of going back to it, so I thought it to be the right time to look back at my most played game ever in retrospect and review it. I will be splitting this review into eight total reviews, one for Save the World, six for each of the six chapters in Battle Royale, and one for the Fortnite OG mode that they have brought out. The reason for each chapter or part of the game having its own review is quite simply that each chapter feels like a completely different game. Even within chapters, the drastic changes between seasons make it feel like multiple different games inside a single chapter. If I ever come back to Fortnite, which I strongly doubt (unless it is for Save the World), I will write another review for whatever chapter that might be, but as of right now, we stick to the six, plus OG. Review 1 - Fortnite: Save the World: The original game mode of Fortnite, where you progress with upgrades, build and defend around objectives (or anything you want), and defeat zombies and monsters of different kinds. Over the course of my Fortnite playtime, I would say that Save the World is where I had the most fun from start to finish. Yes, the highs of Battle Royale's Chapter 1 was where I had the most fun in Fortnite, but that was a snapshot of the game's lifespan, one that feels like a distant memory. However, in terms of consistency, Save the World was, and is, more fun than Battle Royale to me. Progressing through the quest line, across the four zones, Stonewood, Plankerton, Canny Valley, and Twine Peaks (referencing one of the best TV shows of all time, David Lynch's Twin Peaks), was such a blast, for the most part. Founders, like myself (players who bought Save the World before the Founders Packs [Standard, Deluxe, Super Deluxe, Limited, and Ultimate Editions] were discontinued), get free v-bucks from Save the World, from daily quests, Storm Shield Defences, random missions scattered across the four zones where the rewards refresh every 24 hours, levelling up the collection book, and formerly from daily logins at the end of the week (which was completely removed, even for Founders). Non-Founders (players who bought Save the World after the Founders Packs were discontinued) get bonus tickets (used for opening llamas) instead of V-Bucks. You have ten Storm Shield Defences for each zone, where you defend your Homebase from huge hordes of enemies. 1-6 is required for the story questline, while 7-10 are optional. You also have endurances and wargames for each zone and Homebase, too, adding more variety. Stonewood through Canny Valley had an actual quest line that followed a story with its characters, and that is where the game shines the most. You go through the storyline, you get new heroes, survivors, defenders, weapon and trap schematics, materials, ingredients, and everything needed to progress on your journey. You then hit Twine Peaks, and it all changes. The grind for all the latter items carries on, and it is a lot of fun, but the storyline stops, and is replaced with just "complete mission x, y or z in a # level zone." I think being a high level end-game player is where the game really starts to feel stale, because it then becomes just a rinse and repeat over and over again to supercharge your heroes, survivors, weapon, and trap schematics, farm more and more evolution and upgrade materials, materials and ingredients, and upgrade tour collection book, which also requires a lot of the above. Within that, you always replay the same high-level missions over and over again, too, as they give you the highest rewards. Unfortunately, at this point, you have exhausted a lot out of the game and what you are left with is a very repetitive cycle. This mainly applies to players like me who are power level 130+. Getting and upgrading new and different schematics and heroes, making them more accustomed to your own playstyle creates such a huge variety, as there is so much at your disposal to mix and match. You can endlessly try out different combinations to see what does and does not work for you. Weapon classes include: assault rifle (includes LMG!), SMG, shotgun, sniper rifle (includes bow!), pistol, melee (which has its own sub-classes: sword, scythe, axe, hardware, club, and spear). Each weapon class of course excels in different situations, and against different types of enemies. Some weapons within a class are better than others, some classes on average are better than others statistically, but in truth, what you consider best will vary depending on your playstyle, and the same goes for heroes. Seasonal event changes always provide a change in the dynamic of the game, from enemies being a different element depending on the time of year (fire during summer, water during winter, nature during spring, and a mix of all three during autumn), to limited-time modes and events to play during those seasonal changes. Moreover, seasonal heroes and weapon schematics are really where the appeal is. Once again, there are so many to mix and match or to try out, with some of the best weapons in their respective classes being those seasonal weapons. There are also seasonal llamas, which are just regular upgrade llamas, but re-skinned and always include an item from that particular event at the time, and also event quest lines with event-based rewards. The saddest aspect about Save the World is unfortunately the lack of content and support that the mode got from Epic Games after the Founders Packs were discontinued. There is the occasional update that adds some new heroes or weapons, but that is quite rare, unfortunately. They put all their focus into Battle Royale, and just let Save the World more or less continue as it is. Getting the platinum trophy on PlayStation and 100% achievements on Xbox was by far the most lengthy, gruelling and tiresome platinum journey I will probably ever have on any game. At first, I told myself that I am not going for it (for the above reasons), but then it just hit me that I have been playing Save the World for about six years (I took around a year-and-a-bit off when I deleted the game at the end of Chapter 1), and getting platinum would be the cherry on the cake and a legacy thing. As someone who 100%s and platinums his games, it would feel ridiculously weird for me to have been playing it for SO long, and not have it, so I just went for it. Towards the end, all I had left were the "challenge" trophies. They were ridiculously tedious and boring. I am glad to have gotten them, but goodness gracious me. At least I never have to do it ever again. Good thing that trophies and achievements transfer across PlayStation and Xbox as Fortnite progress is stored on the Epic Games account instead of the PlayStation or Xbox accounts respectively. Having it on bith feels very rewarding, especially given that I have played it extensively on both systems (Xbox One and PlayStation 5). Overall, Save the World is a huge adventure with so much to do, that has been unfortunately mismanaged by Epic Games.