The newest Epic Games’ title, Fortnite, has had a long, hard road towards a full release. It was announced in 2011, which Epic creative director Donald Mustard said recently was just three weeks after development began, and then underwent a number of major revisions and setbacks in the very public eye. That’s a lot of work, and a lot of criticism, for a game to suffer on its way to release.
But that’s all over now, and Fortnite has entered the tumultuous world of Steam Early Access on July 25. The standard edition costs $40, while the deluxe edition with all eight heroes unlocked will run you a full $60 with some bonus items thrown in, as well as a special pistol for founding members only. Upon the final release, the game will go free-to-play with built-in micro-transactions.
For now, it’s all about building bases and defending yourselves from Husks, the zombies of the Fortnite universe. Equipped with a slew of weapons, traps, and base-building tools, players will work in small groups to fight off wave after wave of vicious, hungry monsters. There’s also a complex building, crafting, and upgrading system built around each round, allowing top players to specialize their skills and select from an ever-increasing range of options.
While we haven’t gotten a chance to spend a whole lot of time with the game yet, we thought we’d give you, the reader, a chance to check out our hands-on process, and join us for a bit of learning and a whole lot of Husk-slaying at 4:00 PM PST on the Digital Trends Facebook page, and embedded above on this post. We stream every week on Wednesday afternoons, typically with whatever the newest title we can get our hands on, or at least something fairly new.
We’ve fallen back on popular games like Overwatch and Playeruknown’s Battlegrounds in the past, however, so make sure to stop by each week to see what we’re streaming. We stream to Facebook Live, typically from a computer, although we’ve used an Xbox One and the Nintendo Switch in the past. Make sure to join in on the fun, and share with you friends on Facebook.
