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| © Provided by The Verge |
I couldn’t name a single character in Fortnite. I’m not able
to tell you anything about the lore or the plot, or even really explain
where the game takes place. Yet somehow Epic’s multiplayer shooter has
produced the most arresting video game narrative I’ve experienced in
some time — and it’s only getting stronger as Fortnite evolves.
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This weekend provided the most powerful example of Fortnite’s storytelling potential yet. At exactly 1:30PM ET on Saturday, a rocket launched from a mountain on the far west of the game’s ever-changing map.
The launch was not a surprise: Epic had been teasing it for weeks, with
a countdown displayed on certain in-game TVs and a loud klaxon alarm
blaring from the mountain, which was also home to an supervillain-style
lair. Then, a day before the event, the developer told players that they should be around at a specific time or else they’d miss it.
I’m still not entirely sure what happened on Saturday afternoon. I, along with millions of other Fortnite players, logged into the game, to watch the rocket launch. (Luckily no one shot me while I was enjoying the view.)
First, the lair lit up with a burst of bright light, so that you
couldn’t miss it. Then, the rocket sped through the sky, a trail of
smoke behind it. A few moments later some kind of spaceship fell out of
the air and, after some explosions and strange noises, a terrifying
crack opened up in the sky.
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| © Provided by The Verge Fortnite |
I have no idea what any of it means. But witnessing the
event live, with millions of other poeple — both in-game and sharing
screenshots, videos, and jokes on Twitter — was unlike anything I’d ever
experienced before. It reminded me a bit of watching the season finale
of Lost: no one actually understood what was happening, but we were all in it together, sharing the moment.
The
event has also changed how I play the game. Over the weekend I jumped
into multiple matches, and my main goal wasn’t to win: I just wanted to
see what had changed. The first time I jumped out of the battle bus I
landed near the mountain, scouring the evil lair for clues. (I didn’t
find any.) Later, after hearing that a fragment of the rocket had landed
in Anarchy Acres, I immediately headed out to the farm to see it for
myself. It didn’t answer any of my burning questions, but it was
incredibly cool to see.
‘Fortnite’ is not a typical story-driven game
What’s amazing about this is that Fortnite
is not a story-driven game in the way we typically think about it.
There’s no dialogue or moral choices or even anything resembling a plot.
Instead, the story is told almost entirely through the world itself,
and Epic has become a master of environmental storytelling. The entirety
of Fortnite exists on a single map, and it’s one that is
constantly evolving. When there’s a small change, players notice; when
there’s something big, everyone joins in. Previously, the best example of this was the season four comet.
It started as a small dot of light in the sky, before an actual comet
descended on the map, leaving a massive crater, new gameplay features,
and plenty of big questions.
What made the rocket launch
different, and so powerful, was its ephemeral nature. If you weren’t
playing during the few minutes that it lasted, you missed it entirely.
Everyone else had to settle for watching clips on YouTube. In-game
events are nothing new of course, and have been a staple of massively
multiplayer games for years. But the live nature of Fortnite’s rocket launch, combined with the sheer scale of the game,
have resulted in a perfect storm. Epic is using the most popular game
in the world to pioneer new interactive storytelling techniques. And
we’re all along for the ride.
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| © Provided by The Verge Fortnite |
There are plenty of games that have emulated the core battle royale aspect that has made Fortnite
so popular, and it seems likely we’ll see the same thing happen with
its take on storytelling and live events. BioWare, one of the biggest
names in single-player, story-driven role-playing games, will be trying
similar ideas with next year’s Anthem.
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This trend will only continue
“We
thought, what if we have a game where the whole point of the experience
is for everyone to talk about what’s going on right now?” BioWare general manager Casey Hudson told me at E3 last month, before providing an example that sounds a lot like Fortnite’s
rocket launch. “‘There’s going to be a huge snowstorm that’s gonna hit
next Saturday.’ And every day the weather starts getting crazier and
crazier, and then on Saturday, everything hits, everyone shows up to see
what’s going on, and there’s a whole different set of things you get to
do in the game.”
As more games shift to an ongoing, always-online model, this trend will only continue. Bethesda’s upcoming multiplayer take on Fallout,
for instance, should provide plenty of opportunities for the developer
to experiment with live storytelling. Just think of how cool it could be
to be part of the first ever nuclear rocket launch in the game. For now, though, we have Fortnite, and I can’t stop thinking about it. Every time I play I check the crack to see if it’s growing, and some eagle-eyed fans have noticed that parts of the world are actually disappearing, so I’m always on the lookout.
3I don’t know what any of it means — and I don’t care. I’m loving every minute of it.
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