I Finally Played Fortnite. It’s Fine.

I’d been avoiding battle royale games for a few reasons.  Firstly, I didn’t know whether I’d enjoy them, secondly, I know I don’t have the time to dedicate to them to be decent and thirdly, I didn’t want to be bombarded with hatred for being an average player.  I don’t like salt.

I’d read about battle royales with mild curiosity.  PUBG seemed to lead the way and I thought it was pretty cool that Player Unknown has cemented his name in gaming history (John Santina’s Generic Platformer, or JSGP, doesn’t really have the same ring to it, unfortunately).  I’d seen a few videos of it in action but it didn’t pique my interest.  Then came Fortnite, which found itself on my radar thanks to its visual style and additional gameplay mechanics.  It was finally Apex Legends that broke my resolve, coming out of nowhere to become one of the most popular battle royale games in the industry.

I had to play one.

I’ve recently upgraded my phone from an ancient brick to an Honor Play, which has given me more opportunities to play mobile video games while doing my husband and parent duties.  Wife watching Kardashians?  Play a game.  Kids watching Blaze and the Monster Machines?  Watch it for a bit then play a game (hey, Blaze is pretty cool).

After exhausting a plethora of good, decent and bad mobile games, I decided I’d sample the battle royale on my phone.  Not an ideal way to play but one that would fit into my schedule and that I could conveniently install and uninstall after being annihilated.

So, I downloaded Fortnite, went through registration then jumped into a team game.  And… it was fine, actually.  It ran great on my phone, it was fun working with other players and I was surprisingly good at it (or perhaps the others were bad?).  I managed to score highly and before I knew it, an hour had passed.

Then I uninstalled it.

I’d managed to put aside some of my reservations about battle royales (I have no doubt that a mic-on PC experience would be significantly different) but I’d also reinforced the notion that battle royales just aren’t for me.

I’ve poured hundreds of hours into games like Planetside 2 in the past, becoming a pretty decent player in the process.  I’d also learned that by dedicating myself to one game I was missing out of experiencing dozens of other games that would just add to my already imposing Steam pile-of-shame.

Fortnite (and other battle royales) require time to master and their regular content updates mean that it is feasibly a game that you could play long-term without getting bored.  And that’s great if that’s what you’re looking for.

What I’m looking for are games that I can complete in a few sessions, savour the experience then move on.  I want to meet interesting characters in captivating worlds and go on epic adventures.

Fortnite seems to be a great game, even on mobile.  It’s just not a game for me.