There is a reason why Fortnite is still one of the most played and viewed games online. The consistent work that Epic Games has put in every week just to keep the game fresh cannot be ignored. Following this trend, Fortnite has received yet another major update just a week after Patch 8.20 was released. The new update, patch version 8.30 is now out for PS4, PC, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. The update brings some significant changes to the game with a new limited-time event and a new game potentially game-changing mechanic as well. Fortnite players will now be able to bring back their teammates from the dead. Rings a bell, doesn’t it? Yeah, you’ve got it. This is one of the biggest selling-points of Fortnite’s biggest competitor, Apex Legends. So, has Fortnite copied Apex Legends here? Let’s take a look.
Reboot Vans
The respawn mechanic comes to Fortnite in the form of Reboot Vans. Similar to Apex Legends, Reboot Vans allow players to bring their dead teammates back into the match. The Reboot Vans work exactly like how you’d expect them to work. If one of your teammates goes down and doesn’t get revived in time, he dies, as usual. However, with the new mechanic, you can run to point where they died and pick up their ‘reboot card’. Players have to get to the reboot card within 90 seconds or else it expires. Once you’ve grabbed the card, you can run to a nearby Reboot Van and bring your teammate back.
The teammates do not come back with their full gear but it can still make a massive difference in deciding the outcome of the match. In Apex Legends, once you have gathered the banner card of your fallen teammate, another teammate can run to the beacon and bring the dead teammate back as well, negating the need to have the banner card on you physically. This is also the case with Fortnite’s Reboot Vans. Any of the teammates can go to the van and bring back the fallen teammate once the reboot card has been picked up.
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What’s different?
The respawn beacons in Apex Legends, when activated, call in a drop ship with your teammates in it. It is a pretty visible and loud part of the game and leaves you vulnerable to people around you. This just adds that element of risk and decision-making to reviving a teammate. However, this is not the case with the Reboot Vans. The vans construct your teammate on the location without any ship coming in or any significant event happening around the area. This means that the risk factor is a lot lower in Fortnite and your teammates can respawn pretty much without any fear of being ambushed.
The reboot vans are also a lot more forgiving when it comes to the number of times that they can be used. In Apex Legends, the respawn beacon stops working after a single use. However, in Fortnite, the reboot van can be reused over and over again after the 120 second recharge time has passed. This means that you can bring back multiple players back into the game in a single match if you stick around the reboot van. The players that come back after being respawned also do not come empty-handed. Each player comes back with 100 health, 100 wood and a Common Pistol with 36 rounds in it. This means that, unlike in Apex Legends, the returning players at least have a chance to fight if they respawn back right into a firefight and won’t have to instantly run scrounging for new gear.
Did Fortnite copy Apex?
Okay, a lot of people would say that yes, Fortnite did copy Apex with this new game mechanic. However, in truth, there’s a lot more to it than just that. We need to remember that Fortnite was not even meant to be a Battle Royale game when it was announced almost a decade ago. The game was released as a survival-crafting zombie wave shooter. It was the rise of Battle Royale genre with H1Z1 and PUBG that made Epic Games develop a battle royale game mode for Fortnite.
However, that was a long time ago and things have changed since then. Fortnite is now the biggest game on the planet, with millions of players worldwide. It has already gone way out of the realm of ‘copying’ anyone with the tons of original content it pushes out every single week. Yes, the reboot van is very similar to the respawn beacons of Apex Legends. However, the thing is that, it isn’t even a super complicated ground-breaking game mechanic that no one could ever think of in the first place. So, from what I see, this is just another case of Fortnite trying to improve their game. Epic Games is just adding new twists and content to the gameplay to keep the game fresh.
Other Changes
Another big change in the 8.30 update comes in the form of the Buccaneer’s Bounty event. The event goes live on until April 15th and will feature a different game mode every day for a limited time. The event will also come with the daily Buccaneer’s Bounty challenges that have unique rewards and more frequent treasure maps. No Battle Pass will be required to get rewards from the Buccaneer’s Bounty event.
Also being added with the update is the new Fly Explosives Limited-time mode. According to Epic Games, the game mode “combines the explosive fun of the High Explosives LTM with the Jetpack”. This mode will be an over-the-top explosive wreck fest. As far as weapons are concerned, players would only be able to find explosives and Jetpacks as loot. The challenges for Week 7 also arrive today bringing us ever closer to that Legendary Ruin skin for Season 8. Other than this, the health of The Baller vehicle has also been reduced from 300 to 200. The update also adds tons of other smaller UI and bug fixes. You can see the full list of changes in the official Fortnite Update 8.30 full Patch Notes here.
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