Copyright Polygon
As we near the end of Chapter 6 Season 4 of Fortnite, it's a perfect time to reflect on how wonderful the game is right now — and how much better it's about to become. There are a number of reasons for that, which culminate in the game being more fun to play than ever. The biggest factor, outside of everything in the game simply working well right now, is that we are in the eye of the storm of new (and very good) content. Right now, we’re reaching the conclusion of an excellent season with awesome gameplay elements and weaponry, a loaded Battle Pass, and a special Halloween event stuffed with cool cosmetics. And what's planned for next season already has many players' jaws, mine included, on the floor. The current season — Chapter 6 Season 4, "Shock 'N Awesome" — is themed to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. For millennials, this is the cream of the crop when it comes to adapting something beloved from childhood. This series absolutely dominated pop culture in the early '90s. Luckily, developer Epic Games understood the assignment with an excellent Battle Pass that includes the two skins everyone really wanted — the Green and White Rangers. Skins for the rest of the Rangers, along with Lord Zedd, have been sold in the shop, ranging in price from 1,500 V-Bucks for a single skin to 3,600 for the Power Rangers bundle, which includes the five base Rangers, emotes, pickaxes, and more. The characters in the season also brought about the latest kaiju battle event in the game. Much like the previous Godzilla and Star Destroyer events, you could pilot the Megazord, smashing your way across the landscape. This is Power Rangers, though, so of course there was a big gross bug for you to fight against as well. Even the parts of the season that began unevenly due to some improperly balanced new weapons (the Swarmstrike rocket launcher and the Blade Blaster pistol) managed to be quickly ironed out, leaving us with an excellent and well-balanced season of Fortnite — and that's before spooky season kicked off. Now we are in the thick of the annual Fortnitemares event, which ends this weekend. It's arguably the strongest selection of horror cosmetics Fortnite has offered yet, with new additions including Art the Clown (Terrifier), Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th), Wednesday Addams (Wednesday), Ghostface (Scream), Huggy Wuggy (Poppy Playtime), The Grabber (Black Phone 2), Semibots (REPO), and the entire Scooby Doo gang. That's 12 new skins based on popular characters just for Fortnitemares, plus a few spooky Fortnite originals. Oh, and Doja Cat. We can't forget Doja Cat. Fortnite's Halloween celebration has also added what has to be considered in the running for the game's best specialty weapon of all time. Last Call turns players into Ghostface by giving them a knife plus a cell phone that highlights nearby enemies when triggered. From there, you can chase your victim with more stamina and an increased sprint speed before slicing and dicing them like we've all seen Ghostface do so many times — complete with the knife cut sounds pulled directly from the movies. (It's extra fun using this weapon against the NPC boss Jason Voorhees in Creepy Camps, though I've also died doing that more than once.) Last Call is balanced practically perfectly. It does a good amount of damage but slows you down a bit during the jumping attack. And it's not abundant around the map, so you typically have to do some hunting to track it down. We also got a new standard loadout gun this season in the Wrecker Revolver. It's basically a shotgun in one-handed revolver form that, upon debut, was overpowered. Thankfully, Epic nerfed the weapon, though it's still one of the best in the game. What you end up with is a handheld version of the frenzy automatic shotgun that does a bit less damage, but has better aiming and range. It's also absurdly fun to use, running around the map and popping off shots at people near and far. I have more than 1,200 hours invested in Fortnite, which feels like not enough but also way too many, and I can confidently say this is the most fun I've had with the game since I started playing back in Chapter 2 in 2019. And it's only getting better from here, thanks to the forthcoming arrival of The Simpsons. I can't think of another property that touches across as many generations. Currently in its 37th season, The Simpsons has been on TV continuously since 1989. That gives it plenty of content to port over to Fortnite, and based on the leaks we've seen so far, there will be a lot. A leaked loading screen for the upcoming month-long season shows potential skins of Marge, Homer, Krusty the Clown, Moe, Bart and Lisa in robotic suits, Scratchy the cat, and a couple of Fortnite originals in Simpsons art style. While some of those skins will most likely be in the shop, rather than attached to the Battle Pass, this is the best lineup I've seen for a season in quite a while. Chapter 5 Season 4 — "Absolute Doom" — is the last time I recall coveting several skins from a single season, but even those Marvel-centric additions paled in comparison to what's on deck for The Simpsons. Skins aren't going to be the thing about the season that stands out the most, though. The map is the biggest draw. If leaks are to be believed, the entire Chapter 6 map is going away to make room for a brand-new map of Springfield, USA, home of the Simpson family. Once again thanks to leaks, it seems the map will likely consist of several points of interest from the show — including the nuclear power plant, Springfield Gorge, the Simpson home, Moe's bar, and many more. If you're a fan of the show, this is a dream come true. And if you're not, at the very least it looks as though we'll be getting an entirely cel-shaded map, which will create a unique feel for the game. And if you don't like the changes made, the season will end when December rolls around, and then it's time for the holidays to come to Fortnite, which always means free cosmetics for players. We are truly in the golden age of Fortnite, occupying a sweet spot where what came before was great, what's happening now is better, and what's to come could potentially blow everything else out of the water. And after all of that, Fortnite Santa comes to town, showering us with gifts. So if you've never played Fortnite or you fell away from it at some point, I implore you to check it out now. You're not going to regret it.
