For quite a while, Fortnite has followed the tale of “Jonesy,” the default avatar of the series, as he slogs his way through all sorts of circumstances. But Fortnite‘s next season will have its first foray into direct storytelling—no more background lore.
When you log into the new season on March 16, you’ll be directed to “Zero Crisis Finale,” which will be a single-player mission, Epic Games announced today.
The mission will bridge Chapter Two, season five and season six.
Part of Fortnite‘s mainstream appeal is its massive live events, which can be deduced through hints all around the map during the season. Longtime fans remember when “Kevin,” a massive purple cube, was birthed or when a meteor demolished Dusty Depot. After some time, the story began to follow Agent Jones and his exploits.
These storytelling events are different from the virtual concerts and cultural events that Fortnite also puts on.
All in all, this is a drastic turn for Fortnite, which has always preferred its storytelling to take place in the background. You’ll be able to watch the event when it goes live, but you won’t have to log in at a specific time to play the event—there’s no need to set your clock to remind you if you don’t want to.
The event will be the “most ambitious story cinematic yet,” according to Epic.
It’ll be hard to top some of Fortnite‘s older events, like the massive mecha-monster fight in season nine or the virtual Travis Scott concert. No game does live events quite as well as Fortnite, which is still going strong as a game despite not being the cultural juggernaut it once was.
