Skip to main content

Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 2 shows the secret to the shooter’s success

There’s a popular joke in the Super Smash Bros. community where players imagine taking Super Smash Bros. Ultimate back to the year 1997 and showing it to a gamer to get their reaction to its wild roster. I imagine doing the same with Fortnite these days. The battle royale game is entirely different than what it looked like in 2017. The differences between the two, while much more expansive than Super Smash Bros., are ironically what makes Fortnite stay so relevant, and you can once again see that in its latest season.

Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 2 MEGA Cinematic Trailer

When someone talks about a game straying too far away from what made it originally great, it’s usually in a negative context. You’ll often hear complaints like “this isn’t why I fell in love with this series” leveled against long-running franchises like Final Fantasy that are constantly reshaping themselves. We’ve seen it with God of War, the Mario Party series, and it’s a serious point of contention with the Sonic the Hedgehog fanbase. However, Fortnite has taken what many would see as a mistake and made it into one of the main draws of the battle royale.

Recommended Videos

The only constant is change

Fortnite‘s latest season takes the shooter even farther away from its initial “battle royale with building” gimmick. Instead of just existing as a lovechild between PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Minecraft, the current version of the game looks more like an amalgamation of Jet Set Radio, Sunset OverdriveUnreal Tournament, and other games.

All Might using the Kinetic Blade in Fortnite.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Last year saw Fortnite get rid of its building entirely for a moment to introduce a Zero-Build mode. That move convinced more players to give it a try and was so popular that it soon became a permanent playlist. After that, more movement options were introduced, including a slide, mantling, and sprint. In the latest season, the the momentum-based gameplay has expanded even more with rail grinding and a radical katana called the Kinetic Blade to mix things up even more. Being able to do all of that with the new Resident Evil 4 Leon Kennedy skin is just perfect.

In my time playing through this new update, I’ve been completely infatuated with all the new ways I can mix up movement options to disorient opponents, escape bad situations, and just pull off some all-around cool stuff. Recently, I grinded through a city, jumped off a rail, used my Kinetic Blade to air dash to the top of a building, quickly slid to the ground using that momentum, and instantly killed a player with the new pump shotgun. Moments like that happen on the regular throughout the game now.

Fortnite character standing over cityscape.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Out of left field feels right

Then there’s Augments, which return from Season 4 Chapter 1. These are level-up bonus abilities that you gain over time while playing, sort of like unlocking hero abilities. Some of these add even more to my movement arsenal, like a teleporting air dash. All this comes together to make Fortnite into the best “Smoovement Shooter” I’ve ever played.

All of these additions are things I never would have imagined would come to Fortnite years ago. In fact, I remember being skeptical of Zero-Build initially, due to it doing away with the very mechanic that made the game so unique. Now, it’s the only mode I’m ever playing in the battle royale.

Day by day, Fortnite is growing and changing in ways that keep it the most relevant battle royale in the genre and one of the most talked-about video games, period. From its two battle royale playlists to its competitive modes and casual metaverse-like playgrounds, there’s always something new to look forward to with this title.

At this point, I won’t be surprised when the game adopts a Street Fighter-like fighting game mode and somehow blows us all away yet again with something completely left field.

DeAngelo Epps
Former Digital Trends Contributor
De'Angelo Epps is a gaming writer passionate about the culture, communities, and industry surrounding gaming. His work ranges…
One Oblivion player visited Hammerfell a game early
A lizard looks down on a town in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered has rocketed in popularity as gamers revisit an old classic, but for some, Cyrodil isn't enough. In grand Bethesda tradition, several players have broken outside the boundaries of the map and traveled to the other regions shown in the world map, including Hammerfell — the suggested location for The Elder Scrolls VI.

You can't go to every region shown on the map, but you can visit quite a few. Players noted early on that the Throat of the World, the central mountain from Skyrim, is visible in the distance at certain points. Reddit user u/GnoblinXD said, "I've managed to find my way to both the Morrowind and Skyrim side of the border, but the walkable area does not extend very far. So no selfies from the Throat of the World, unfortunately."

Read more
Gamers, Gigabyte gaming laptops are on sale — up to 22% off
The back view of the Gigabyte Aorus 17 gaming laptop.

Gigabyte is a brand whose devices offer gamers plenty of value -- especially with these discounts that we've found on Amazon. You can currently get the Gigabyte Aorus 7 with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card for only $899, for savings of $250 on its original price of $1,149, and the Gigabyte Aorus 17 with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card for only $1,399, for savings of $350 on its original price of $1,749. You're going to have to be quick with your purchase if you're interested in either of these gaming laptop deals though, as there's no telling how much time is remaining before stocks run out!

Gigabyte Aorus 7 gaming laptop -- $899 $1,149 22% off

Read more
Full Pokémon list in 2025
Liko and Roy surrounded by Pokémon in key art for Pokémon Horizons: The Series.

The entire Pokémon empire was built on the simple catchphrase of "gotta catch 'em all." That was more than achievable in the first generation, but each one has added dozens upon dozens of new creatures to the roster. What started as a big, but manageable 151 Pokémon has multiplied by nearly a factor of 10 in 2025. It has gotten to the point where the newest Pokémon games aren't even able to include the entire roster anymore. Since we are obsessed with fully completing our Pokédexes in every game, we do appreciate not having an overwhelming number to deal with, but it does make it hard to keep track of exactly how many Pokémon there even are anymore. We have gone back through our old save files on every Pokémon game from the Game Boy to the Switch and counted every single Pokémon to give you the full list as of 2025.

How many Pokémon are there now?

Read more