Fortniteplayers are used to Epic Games changing up the map on a regular basis through meteor showers,giant mystery cubes, dimensional rifts, or, in Season 2’s case, spy factions. But in a surprise twist, it’s beginning to look like the latest changes to the map are being decided not by Epic but the players themselves.
With Season 2, players have had to make a choice between aligning with one of the two spy factions inhabiting the map,Ghost and Shadow. At first, it seemed like this decision was mostly cosmetic, affecting only the character skins and challenge sets players received, but a growing number of hints have suggested that these choices may have a greater effect onFortniteas a whole.
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This week provided the most substantial evidence yet with the changes that were made toFortnite’s map with yesterday’s v12.10 update. Prior to the update, all of the major points of interest added with the new season were either neutral or Ghost bases, while Shadow agents operated at unmarked safehouses scattered across the map. As of v12.10, however, it looks like Shadow has taken over the Grotto, as players have noticed that the POI now has a giant skull carved into its exterior, while all of the NPC enemies are wearing Shadow outfits. This includesBrutus, the Grotto’s bossand the first unlockable character skin on Season 2’s battle pass.
Players think this may be an example of their choices affecting the wider game. Despitemore players preferring Ghost over Shadow in a recent faction poll, it’s possible that more players decided to go with the Shadow version of Brutus. This in turn, may have resulted in his POI switching over to Shadow.
This could actually have a tangible effect on gameplay, since the factions determine which weapons spawn at the locations they control, with Ghost favoring Suppressed weapons while Shadow leans towards harder-hitting weapons likeHeavy Snipersand Miniguns. If the choice between Ghost and Shadow really does affect which faction controls which POI, then players may have to factor which weapons they’d rather have available when considering which faction to align with.
Of course, it’s not yet clear if this is the case or if it’s building up to something bigger, like therecently-rumored Faction War limited-time mode. Players are still waiting on Epic to explain how the whole faction system works exactly, or which faction is most popular for that matter, so until then it remains to be seen how much influence they ultimately have over the changes that will be made to the game this season.
Fortniteis free-to-play on Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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