Fortnite’s annual Halloween-themed “Fortnitemares” event is here, bringing all sorts of spooky characters and cosmetics to the popular online battle royale shooter, including slasher Michael Myers and Disney character Jack Skellington.
It’s the best time of the year. The leaves are changing colors. The air is getting cooler. Even better, online video games are starting up all their Halloween events, bringing ghoulish characters, spooky colors, and creepy items to multiple games across all platforms. And of course, Fortnite is getting in on all the spooky action with the return of a popular horde mode, as well as creepy new skins, including everyone’s favorite fictional writer, Alan Wake.
As announced today by Epic, Fortnite’s big Halloween event is now live as part of the v26.30 update. The patch adds Halloween candy that players can collect and eat to gain different traits, like temporary low gravity, as well as new and returning spooky weapons, including the Pumpkin Launcher and Wood Stake Shotgun. There’s also a new Witch Broom item that can send players flying off into the sky.
The big stars of the update are three new characters coming to Fortnite: Michael Myers aka The Shape from the Halloween films, Jack Skellington from Disney’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, and finally, Alan Wake from…well the video game Alan Wake and its upcoming sequel, Alan Wake II.
Oddly, the three big new skins coming to the game this time around aren’t actually available just yet and will be added some time later during Fortnitemares. And as with past Fortnitemare events, this year will feature new quests that players can complete for additional, spooky rewards. Similarly, the returning Horde Rush mode—featuring teams of players taking on waves of monsters—will have its own quests and rewards, too.
Meanwhile, it’s hard to get too excited about this new Halloween Fortnite event when Epic—the company behind the game—just laid off nearly 900 employees after its CEO, Tim Sweeney, admitted that the company had been “spending way more money than we earn.” As usual, the scariest thing of all is unfettered capitalism.
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