Vince Pavey is a writer from the North-East of England who has worked on comics for The Beano and Doctor Who. He likes to play video games and eat good food. Sometimes he does both at the same time, but he probably shouldn’t.
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Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 8 is here, and with it comes Fortnite Season 8 patch notes. Here’s all the new stuff you can expect to see for the next fifteen-or-so weeks of Fortnite Season 8: CUBED.
Fortnite Season 8 Patch Notes — The Sideways
The Mothership’s crash during Operation Sky Fire has opened up Fortnite Island to a new invader threat from monster-filled pocket dimensions called The Sideways. As the cubes spread their corruption, they also create Sideways Anomalies that will drag people into the orange bubbles full of alien monsters. The Sideways is a low gravity environment where players can’t build their own cover.
Each match will have The Sideways bleed into a POI (point of interest / named location on the map) and turn it into a Sideways Zone. You’ll be able to tell which area is a Sideways Zone because it will have an orange name.
New Fortnite Weapons — Sideways Weapons
If you defeat the spooky Cube Monsters inside of an anomaly, then they’ll drop Sideways Weapons and Cube Monster Parts, which are used to upgrade Sideways Weapons. These weapons are powerful and can be taken with you when you leave Sideways areas.
Currently, the two Sideways Weapons are a Sideways Rifle and Sideways Minigun. One is like the Infantry Rifle and the other is well … It’s basically the Minigun. They do bonus damage if they’re close to overheating, so they can be a risky buy rewarding way to play.
Returning Fortnite Weapons — Unvaulted Weapons
As is pretty typical for a new season of Fortnite, there are also some returning weapons from previous seasons. In Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 8, the returning weapons in the floor loot pool are the Automatic Sniper Rifle and the Harpoon Gun.
You can also use Nuts & Bolts to sidegrade weapons again, although the sidegrade opportunities are different for some reason. This time, the Lever Action Shotgun, Tactical Shotgun and Pump Shotgun can become a Charge Shotgun while the Assault Rifle and Burst Assault Rifle can both become a Suppressed Assault Rifle.
Fortnite Season 8 Patch Notes — The Global Effort
As Fortnite Island prepares for war against the cubes, players can donate at Global Effort boards towards the construction of defensive measures like turrets. Players should all get on that, as we don’t want to be without guns when we go into combat at the end of the season.
Fortnite Season 8 Patch Notes — The Cubes
Cubes have rained down upon the island from The Mothership destroyed by the Imagined Order, and both they and the alien wreckage have started to corrupt the island. Smaller cubes called Shadow Stones have returned to give players ghostly abilities again. The extra-dimensional glyph energy from the cubes has also started to affect the local wildlife, creating a new species of fish called the Shadow Flopper that has the same effect.
We’re not sure if it’s related to the cubes or not, but wild crows can now be found on the island. If you shoot them, they’ll drop meat that you can eat for health.
If you want to know more about the cubes and what they mean to Fortnite, check out this page.
Fortnite Season 8 Patch Notes — Party Quests and Punch Cards
Fortnite Season 8 has once again revamped the XP quest system, and players can now assist each other with challenges simply by playing together and doing their own challenges. This encourages players to go on with their pals so that they can level up quicker than in the previous seasons of Fortnite Chapter 2.
The cynic in us knows that’s so Epic Games can get more people to look at the Item Shop, but the Fortnite player in us is happy that there might be less grinding for levels.
NPCs also now have punch cards full of missions that can be completed at any time, with unique dialogue that will really bring out their individual personalities. It’s a bit like the Raz quest chain from Chapter 2, Season 6 except on a grand scale.
Fortnite Season 8 Patch Notes — Toona Fish
Toona Fish is a unique skin concept that is a bit like a 1930s cartoon version of Fishstick combined with a coloring book. Players can explore the island and find several paint pots in different colours, which then unlock new color options to customize their fish with. Customizations aren’t locked in, so players can feel free to experiment with new styles.
Fortnite Season 8 Season Start and End Dates
Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 8 started on September 13, 2021 and will end on December 5, 2021.
