Epic Unveils Fortnite Gameplay Video and Alpha Sign Up

Revealed all the way back in 2011, Fortnite has been a game a lot of gamers may have forgotten even existed. Epic is here to remind us all that yes, Fornite is a game that is still in development. To prove it, Epic has unveiled a brand new gameplay video of their upcoming PC exclusive (for now).

[lovesGaming17]

I'll try out the alpha.looks fun, I'm Hoping epic is working on a new IP also

[KendrickLamar]

Holy sh*t it's been a while since they talked about this game. Looks fun, can't wait for it.

[3-4-5]

This actually looks pretty fun.

[Ol_Boy]

Looks pretty cool. I would give this a try.

[MadLad]

I recieved confirmation on alpha access for this a few days ago.
Excited? Very much so.

[SeraphimNympho]

I was looking forward to this, but some of the mechanics showcased in this trailer are disappointing.

Let's see... it opens up by showing that it takes 3-4 seconds to search a chest for resources. Shortly after this (0:35-0:45) we see that if you want to build something out of those resources it takes no time at all. You begin construction on a floor or stairs and can *immediately* walk on them. Sure, it takes time for the construction animation to play out, but the functionality of the wall or floor or stairs being constructed is available immediately. Seriously? So how does this work exactly? What's the point of the building animations if the things you're building can be used *before they're built*? Oop - 0:46 seconds now, let's pause for 3-4 seconds while a crate is searched for resources... No wait, they've already shown that riveting gameplay so this time they decide to skip it after 2 seconds and they jump ahead to...

A full minute of more building gameplay. At least when building traps they don't show meaningless animations as they're doing with floors, walls, and doors that can be used before the animations are done - instead traps just spring into existence with no animation at all. They must have realized how silly it'd look if you built a trap and a monster was hit by it before the building animation finished - apparently they didn't have the same concern for people walking on floors and stairs that don't yet exist, but whatever.

Now (1:50) the monsters are attacking! Exciting! Time to showcase cool combat mechanics and traps in action! This is hit and miss... Some of this actually looks kind of fun, but then there's the terrible looking melee mechanics - players just swinging weapons around wildly with nothing interesting really going on. Several traps are triggered but they seem to only cause damage and no other real effects to monsters. At 2:25-2:35ish the base is being mortared from afar and our weird building mechanics come back into play as a player builds instantly functional ceilings to protect against incoming mortar fire even though the animations aren't yet complete they seem to still provide cover despite *not yet existing*. Next we see a big green troll looking guy (2:42-2:46) charge right through a bunch of spikes with nothing to indicate he's being affected in any way except for his health bar depleting a little bit - no animation showing he's being hurt, no slow down as he just phases through twenty or so giant spikes, nothing.

3:00-3:15 showcases some more awful melee mechanics and animations with the player swinging a bat like a drunken A-Rod. Then they take a break from that for ten seconds to show off some halfway decent looking gunplay only to return at 3:25 with more awful melee.

I understand this is still early, but damn if this wasn't a hugely unimpressive trailer.

[crazychris4124]

Its pre alpha so its not gonna be that polished, they are focusing on gameplay mechanics. This game isnt coming out till next year

[Palitera]

The chest open delay is probably to guarantee you won't open it surrounded by enemies, without any risk. It could have some animations, sure, but...

These and the traps presentation will probably be enhanced until the release.

As for the combat gameplay, I had the same impression.

[SeraphimNympho]

Adding a delay to open a chest makes sense for exactly that reason, I agree. However, I mentioned it only because it seemed so odd to me that they'd make that design decision but then allow you to build and use things instantaneously to the point that you can build cover for incoming mortar fire on the fly. Why add a delay to open a chest so a player can't search it while surrounded by enemies, but have no delay for construction so a player can build whatever they want without risk from nearby enemies?

It just seems to be a very incongruent design decision from my perspective.

[Eldyraen]

Congratulations, you can troll/nitpick/criticize an Alpha build!

This isn't some hardcore realistic game so a lot of your complaints just seem trollish to me. Fortnite is essentially an evolution of games similar to Dungeon Defenders, Orcs Must Die, etc. Realism has no place in the overall scheme of things.

Building is a progressive system in part, I'm assuming anyways, as it allows for constant building with minimal impact on the engine/hardware running the game. When you build an object it places its Frame (so you know where you can go--especially useful for bridges, stairs, etc) and a basic overlay (so you know what can and can not be passed through--particularly useful during combat). The 'as you go' building progression allows for constant building/streaming and imo looks cool. Would you be critizing it if it was instant because it magically appeared or would you seriously rather be standing there the entire duration it took for a single item to be placed fully formed in the world? Arguing over traps is no different.

As there are multiple enemy types I'm also assuming the big green blob that was sprinting everywhere was a type of special enemy that may be unaffected by traps. I could be wrong but if all you had to do was rely on traps the whole time it would become boring quick.

On the melee system side I sort of agree as the video at the very least should had showned a little less 'swing away' mentality but I'm sure plenty of people will end up playing like that at least sometimes (myself included... probalby not often but it wouldn't be the first time I've meleed too much/too early when there was no need for it in part as I don't like sitting still just standing there--in MMOs for example I'm that overenergetic dude that just jumps around for no reason sometimes just to keep busy). Some of the melee looks fine though as had multiple attack types which probably has something to do with weapon type (sword may have the rush through attack while axe had the big cleave).

Overall though I liked what I saw and hope I get in the Alpha (fingers crossed) but if not I have a feeling I will at least enjoy the game itself whenever it releases. It could had been better though (minus the needless swinging but it was only a couple seconds out of my life at most) and it showed a lot of different aspects of the game in a relative short timeframe.

[Qrphe]

Way to show the UE4 Epic, but it's f2p so the more who can play it the better I guess

[lovesGaming17]

Just got alpha conformation! See you guys in the beta!

[WeAreLegion]

That looks pretty freakin' awesome. I love building up defenses in a shooter, like Starhawk. This has a lot of depth, it seems. Can't wait!

[ginsunuva]

Alphas are the new Betas.

Soon we'll be getting early access to concept art.

[SIRHC13]

Looks very fun!