I Don't Want Fortnite's Cube Monsters To Go

Kotaku Game DiaryDaily thoughts from a Kotaku staffer about a game we're playing.

For the last couple weeks, cube monsters have been rampaging through Fortnite matches (don’t call them zombies or you’ll hurt Epic Games’ feelings). But on Sunday, they, along with their namesake, disappeared from the game. It was beautiful, but I was sad. Cube monsters have been my favorite thing to happen to the game since the introduction of the game’s 50v50 mode nearly a year ago. So I was relieved when I woke up this morning and learned they’d be sticking around for a little bit longer in the game’s new limited time mode, Team Terror.

Added to the game in today’s v6.22 update, Team Terror is essentially the game’s Fortnitemares event made into its own separate thing. Whoever still longs for Halloween hordes of glowy purple AI, like me, can get their fill of mixed PVP action in this mode. Teams consist of 32 players each, and monster spawners are scattered across the map with new ones appearing every time the storm closes in. Team Terror is also resource rich, with a higher farming rate for materials, better drop rates, and wandering gold monsters, which can be hunted for Legendary loot.

The same way 50v50 helped open up more possibilities during matches by making you just as likely to be surrounded by allies as enemies, cube monsters also add a nice distraction from the normal grind of racing toward the center of the map while people snipe at you from their scrappy towers. It almost makes Fortnite feel like a MOBA. Almost.

Players in Fortnite’s Save the World mode have been working cooperatively to shred enemy waves for years now, but having cube monsters in the game’s competitive modes over the last couple weeks was also a good reminder that Fortnite can be fun in other iterations beyond brutal, zero-sum struggles for individual survival.

Even with tons of aggro monsters running around, the game is still distinctly a battle royale shooter. At the same time, having hordes to farm for shield boosts, extra ammo, and the occasional rare item opens up an alternate path to getting the W. Farming monster spawns after a circle closes with a bunch of strangers, only to encounter a squad from the enemy team and have all hell break lose, is some of the most fun I’ve had in the game in recent memory. Most of all, the presence of monsters really cuts out the downtime in between looking for enemies to shoot at.

I’m relieved that Epic has found a way to keep this element around in PvP for at least a little longer. Who knows what’s next for the game now that Kevin the Cube went nova. Someone could come back in time from a month from now and tell me, and I probably wouldn’t believe them. Whatever future updates bring, though, I hope they’ll make room for more monsters.

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