Fortnite is famous not only as a battle royale giant or a streamer’s creative hotspot, but it turns out to be a narrative-driven game as well. If the storyline had fully answered your questions about the island’s latest happenings, then you would be the only one out of a few. The story has been holding the audience for quite a long time, but at the same time, it has confused a lot of them as well. How gradually it has changed from a possible mythological background to a clear and funny yet irritating unraveling.
The year 2019 was filled with potential for the Fortnite universe. Not only was it he event that marked the pause of the Fortnite saga was the end of Chapter 1, but also the explosion of the meteor caused the disconnection of the sky and the mysterious fall into the darkness. These events were something of the global culture to which even people who were not into the gaming community could not resist getting attracted. The ones who saw the island’s death happening live were given the feeling of involvement, and it looked like Epic Games was succeeding in a universe with recurring characters and some level of continuity.
However, that promise slowly faded away with time. The plot of Fortnite has been very inconsistent throughout, but the latest developments show a clear indication of the lack of a clear direction. At times, the story is used to lead the action; for instance, in Chapter 3: Season 2, the resistance theme was very dominant and centrally located. At some other times, it is so much in the background that it is hardly discernible; this is, for example, in Chapter 3: Season 3, where the story is barely coherent. The change of tone can be pretty abrupt. In one season, you may be battling a reality devouring chrome entity, and in the next, you may be chilling with summer parties. Those players who are into the lore and want it to be consistent and evolving may find this inconsistency quite frustrating.
Firstly, the situation forked when Fortnite started telling its story differently through comics. The Zero Point and Zero War series, made with the assistance of Marvel and DC, unveiled quite a few of the game’s hidden secrets, like the secrets of secret bunkers and the final bits of a massive live event. The ironic thing? Not everyone got to see them. People who didn’t buy the comics or couldn’t get them in their country were completely out of the loop, and a big number of them had to turn to YouTube lore explainers for updates. That transition from in-game to different media storytelling caused the story to be disjointed, and the fans unaware of that were left in the dark.
The crossovers, initially, might have been a part of the confusion, but now they are the backbone of the whole story. Watching Spider-Man or Batman come to the island is very fascinating. Sometimes these relationships can be perfectly in line with the lore. However, most of the time, they are just mingling. The Seven, a group once mysterious and fascinating, had a little bit of magical power left after The Foundation was revealed to be based on and voiced by Dwayne Johnson. At this moment, the difference between the world of Fortnite and the world of celebrity became indistinct and strange. Besides that, it becomes very clear that the universe is not seamlessly connected if you take the combination of Ariana Grande skins, LeBron James skins, or The Rock skins as Black Adam. It is an entirely different thing if actors are the voices of characters while being the characters themselves, literally.
On top of that, there are also retcons. Once, fans were constantly thinking that The Paradigm and The Singularity were the same, as they looked very similar and were the same characters, just different interpretations. However, later the Zero War comics chose to illustrate them as two different characters, which consequently withdrew fan theory. Such retcons pose the question of even the most hardcore lore enthusiasts and make it very difficult for them to figure out which is canon.
Repetition is another issue that has been brought up. The story loop of Fortnite has become stuck in a predictable cycle: the island is threatened by something, the map changes, and the heroes unite to stop it. Big trailers hype each new season, but the formula underneath the surface doesn’t really change. For longtime fans, it is starting to feel like déjà vu.
That doesn’t mean that Fortnite’s narrative is dead. The universe has limitless possibilities, and people definitely want more lore development. But until Epic Games succeeds in weaving these stories into something coherent and substantial, the lore will continue to feel like more of a patchwork than an epic. Right now, the lore is just as elusive and infuriating as before.