A Fortnite avatar warily traipses across gently rolling hills. His health depleted, and enemies nearby, he diverts into a nearby building. His respite from the watching eyes of elimination-hungry opponents is short-lived, though, as the multi-ton heel of Godzilla comes crashing through the roof and onto his hopes of a victory.
The descent of Chapter 6 of Fortnite was completed on December 6, 2024. Season 1 of said chapter ushers in the forthcoming era of the game. Boasting a new map, refreshed loot pool, and fun mechanics to elevate the game (or, say, decimate a small city), the new season of Fortnite holds the promise of a strong 2025 but proves itself to be a typical season compared to others.
Qualitative evaluations of a virtual landscape are inherently going to be subjective and dependent on reviewer preferences and playstyles, but it is not up for debate that the Chapter 6 map can be fairly judged as acceptable. There are bodies of water, gas stations, rural areas, populated regions, precarious precipices, and splotches of tundra. That’s pretty standard for a battle royale island. As a successor of previous maps, the Chapter 6 island does not disappoint. But, it also succeeds as an original concept. Leaning into the oriental theme of the season, “Nightshift Forest” and “Shogun’s Solitude” add a distinctive Eastern flair to the otherwise temperate landscape. While the practicality and potential enjoyment of each point of interest are up for debate, what isn’t is that the Chapter 6 map works as a habitat for Fortnite.
Scattered across the map, the same as in previous seasons, are chests. In those chests are randomly decided weapons, consumables (like health replenishers), and other items. Luckily for the prolific virtual gambler, there’s a high chance of those items being fun to use. At current, the loot pool includes the fabled rail gun, the potent sentinel pump shotgun, and the versatile kinetic blade. While the new season has a unique loot pool, as any season should, there seem to be no major balance and dominant playstyle changes from previous seasons. So, season one of chapter six shows itself to not be significantly different from its predecessors as far as items go.
Although its loot pool and map keep in line with Fortnite’s benchmark, there is one gameplay aspect that distinguishes Chapter 6 Season 1: the ability to play as Godzilla. The popular monstrous creation was brought to the game in mid-January. If players obtain the ability to roam the map as Godzilla, they can enjoy an upscale in both their visibility and durability for a brief duration of time. Even though they immediately become a slow-moving and massive target for all the other players, who are incentivized to take down the beast, they possess the power to rack up eliminations if they play well. But besides that benefit, there are few rewards for taking up the mantle. Instead, it is better to deal the most damage to Godzilla, as doing so grants a powerful power-up. And so, one of the most distinctive features of Chapter 6 Season 1 is diminished by its drawbacks. Despite this, Godzilla is a fun feature of the season for casual players or players who want to try it.
With three of the major aspects of Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 1 laid out, it isn’t a long shot to say that the season is decent at least. While it fails to knock any figurative or literal socks off, it is knocking on the door of the rest of Chapter 6, its precedent demanding a high standard of quality for incoming seasons.
