Fortnite’s wonderfully weird personality is back in latest season

Fortnite is weird again — and I couldn’t be happier. The game’s latest season finally launched yesterday and, on the surface at least, it seems like a standard update. It has a new secret agent theme, with opposing factions and lots of new stealth gameplay options. But look beyond the well-tailored suits and you’ll find something even more notable: Fortnite’s offbeat personality is back in full force.

That’s something that was desperately missing from the previous season. When Fortnite kicked off its ambitious reboot to chapter 2 in September of last year, it felt exciting at first. Everything was new again. But that initial excitement eventually waned.

The first season dragged on for a long time — six months, or twice as long as a standard Fortnite season — and without many of the frequent changes and updates that longtime fans have come to expect. It felt like a complete 180 from season X, which, admittedly changed things a little too much. Aside from a handful of exciting moments, like the introduction of lightsabers, the new chapter was mostly bland. If I took a week off, I didn’t miss much, if anything.

Season 1 was a solid, if not particularly exciting foundation, and Epic has managed to build off of it in exciting ways. The whole spy theme isn’t just cosmetic. The map is now home to multiple locations filled with armed guards and lots of loot, which add a whole new layer to the experience. You can infiltrate a base, steal a keycard, and open up a vault for some of the best gear in the game.

There are characters and missions, and you can even wear a disguise. And, I must add, you do all of this while playing a battle royale game with 99 other human players vying for the coveted victory. And you can do it dressed as a banana in a tuxedo.

“It’s wild.”

What the new season adds is a dose of the unexpected. The new armed guard characters are smarter than any of the NPCs I’ve faced in Fortnite before; coordinated in a way that, if you’re not paying attention, can easily knock you out of the game. It adds a dynamic element when you drop in certain locations, particularly the large new fortress that’s been erected at the center of the map. There are also new tweaks that are just plain silly fun, like cardboard boxes to hide in or gliders you can actually ride around on like bouncy stuffed animals.