Twitter A scene from Fortnite Chapter 2.
Fortnite Chapter 2 is finally here after Fortnite went down suddenly at 4 a.m. for people following the game on Twitch. That came on the morning of October 15, 2019, after the black hole left millions of people wondering about the fate of Fortnite’s battle royale island when the online game became unplayable all day, starting Sunday, October 13, 2019.
Thousands of people were watching on Twitch when Fortnite suddenly went down “for maintenance,” according to Verge, which says the official Fortnite Twitter page returned to normal with a large update but, at first, people couldn’t play it. A “servers not responding” warning showed up instead.
Then all became right in the world again, a new world, that is. Chapter 2 debuted on October 15, 2019, and a trailer was released by Fortnite. The black hole has now ended. The new update contains a new map, and a variety of new features, some of which are rounded up later in this article.
Chapter 2’s trailer shows a world with lush foliage, fishing, farmers’ fields of grass complete with tractor, a snow-capped mountain, and other scenes. The new chapter went live. “Drop into a New World ? Fortnite Chapter 2 is available now. Share your #FirstDrop!” the official Fortnite Twitter account declared. That post, showing Fortnite Chapter 2’s trailer, had 1.5 million viewers in a couple hours.
That was all a relief to Fortnite fans who had been staring at the black hole. “When they put that black hole up forever 24 hours we realized how addicted we were,” one fan wrote on Twitter.
“You make fun of people for staring at the fortnite black hole, but it looks no different than your bank account. #Fortnite2,” joked another.
It all started on Sunday afternoon. On October 13, 2019, when, as The Washington Post put it, all of Fortnite’s world “from the game to the servers to the menu screens” was pulled into a virtual black hole, leaving millions of people wondering what was going to come. What happened? Rocks smashed into a meteor’s landing spot, propelling players into the air. A black hole then appeared, pulling the game into it. People scouring Fortnite social media were just greeted with more images of… the black hole. It was part of an event dubbed The End, which was the end of Season 10.
This is The End.
“This is The End,” the game’s Twitter page said, but of course another season loomed.
“I’m glad Fortnite down. I hope they never fix it. It’s time for these kids to go outside and play with their friends lol,” snarked one Twitter user. Jokes flew on Twitter. Even Elon Musk got into the joking game.
Venture investor Matt Ball had written, “#Fortnite has now been down for 20 hours, during a national holiday, seemingly by design + with no explanation. Even though it is the paragon of an always-on, live service.”
Even worse, people had no idea when it would be playable again. But then… it was back. TechCrunch reports that Fortnite was offline for 48 hours, and the new world has “13 points of interest” and a “web of rivers.”
According to TechCrunch, new attributes include: A healing “bandage bazooka” for teammates; the ability to swim; the ability to gain health by ingesting fish; and the ability to pick up and carry teammates. Engadget reports that the new world contains boats; points of interest called things like Camp Cod and Power Plant; more mountains; supposedly “less grind”; account levels that “now extend up to 250”; and the ability to “rotate around the map.”
You can now jump in dumpsters:
People offered theories on the Fortnite blackout:
Just what they want you to think.
“It really happened,” Twitch tweeted.
Here’s what you need to know about the reaction to Season 2:
Opinions Raged Among Fortnite Fans About Season 2
Damn, I can understand why Fortnite took so long updating. This game got one hell of a glow up! New map, New UI, New vehicles
People flooded Twitter with their Fortnite Season 2 opinions. “everyone has his opinion but i really think the new season is good,” wrote one person. Here are some of the other fan reactions:
“It was worth the black hole…”
“The fact that you jump into a game immediately right after you see the cutscene is so cool.”
“Not even gonna lie I haven’t played Fortnite in about a year but this looks really cool.”
“The minecrafters are somewhere having strokes right now.”
“What a ride, Chapter 2 is already insane!”
“Broooo Fortnite is taking so much power from the switch now, it even goes down when I’m charging it, I was so good in my first game and it was still going on but the power went off :(”
“I take back everything bad I have ever said about you @FortniteGame just add mobility please ? #FortniteChapter2.”
“fix this plz literally the game is unplayable….. :(”
“IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT!! THANK YOU EPIC!!”
“Cool new start but not worth all the hype.”
People snarked and joked and speculated when Fortnite was down. “With Fortnite down, Pornhub views have sky rocketed,” wrote one.