Stop killing in ‘Fortnite’ and explore nature with new Playground mode

Fortnite: Battle Royale is a gorgeous game filled with buildings and natural structures to explore, but you’re unlikely to actually spend much time in any one place as you’re getting shot at by 99 other people. That will change with the upcoming “Playground” mode, which will let you relax and build without worrying about that pesky “permanent death” thing.

Available as a limited-time mode, Fortnite‘s Playground sends you into the same map you use for the battle royale mode, but with unlimited respawning, all treasure and ammo crates available, and increased resource generation. You will also be able to play on the map for an extended period of time so you can focus on building interesting structures, and you can face off against up to three other friends with friendly fire turned on if you want to work on a specific strategy.

“This represents our initial step into what a creative mode looks like in Fortnite, said Epic Games in the announcement in May. “Practice, strategize, and enjoy yourself. We can’t wait to see what you do!”

This week, players finally spotted a note on the Playground mode in Fortnite‘s daily message. It should be arriving within the next day or two, and for newer players, it could offer you the perfect opportunity to prepare before facing live competition in Fortnite: Battle Royale. We know all too well how easy it is to get murdered within minutes of landing on the map, particularly if you haven’t messed around with the game’s weapons or building mechanics for a bit.

Though Fortnite remains the biggest battle royale game on the market by a pretty wide margin, expanding into different genres like this could be an effective way to keep players from jumping ship. Hi-Rez’ Realm Royale — previously called Paladins: Battlegrounds — has been gaining steam with its class-based approach to battle royale. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds continues to do fairly well, also, recently passing 400 million total players and 50 million copies sold. With a whole new audience on Nintendo Switch, however, we don’t see Fortnite losing its crown as the undisputed king of battle royale anytime soon.