Since its release in 2017, Fortnite has been synonymous with Battle Royale shooters. Whether it’s the standard Battle Royale mode or the Zero Build mode, Fortnite has always been about the quest to be the last one alive. While Fortnite encourages players to squad up and take on a map together, it’s not the greatest showcase of how they encourage community because, at the end of the day, the point is still to eliminate everyone else on the island. The recent release of Chapter 5 changes all of that by including three new modes: Fortnite Festival, Rocket Racing, and Lego Fortnite.
A New Way To Play
Lego Fortnite has completely changed everything we know about Fortnite. Whereas in the Battle Royale modes, the point was to eliminate other players, Lego Fortnite focuses on creating community experiences. In fact, the big setup is to create a Lego community full of people peacefully coexisting near each other. In every Fortnite experience, we’re stronger when we’re together. This is especially true in the cozy Lego Fortnite mode, where cooperation means building a village faster and surviving enemies better.
This entirely new sandbox experience starts players out with nothing. Before you can create a village,you must make tools from nothing more than the sticks and stones found on the ground. As time progresses, more and more worldbuilding and community-embracing options become available. There was a steep learning curve for me as this gaming style isn’t typically my forte. Despite that, I found that the more I play, the more comfortable I become. I could take on every challenge at my own pace, in my own Lego universe. I could do it with friends, or I could go solo. I could have enemies, hunger, and weather or I could create a world that plays entirely zen. The options for how I built a community were totally up to me. These tailor-made experiences for the individual add to the strength of Lego Fortnite.
It’s All About The Grind
One thing about Fortnite that I’ve always enjoyed is the grind for the battle pass. I know that sounds weird, but hear me out. Even more so than winning a chicken dinner..err umm… a victory royale, I enjoy running around the map to do quests. Sometimes, I get upset if I’m trying to complete a quest and someone nearby takes the opportunity to gank me. I was never a threat to you, Karen! I just wanted to do this quest over here. It’s all about making sure I unlock everything in the battle pass. I don’t feel like I’ve gotten my money’s worth on a battle pass if I stay under level 100. I was worried that if I play Lego Fortnite too much that it would take time away from the grind.
Lego Fortinite is its own grind. Everything I do in Lego Fortnite works to unlock more progress on my own personal Lego island. I can upgrade to better weapons and tools. I can make my village bigger and bigger. It all helps further my progression in that ever-important community. I can do it solo or I can do it in a group but it’s all mine and it all takes time. Best of all, when I log out of my world, I see that I’ve also been grinding levels in the main battle pass. I started Lego Fortnite at level 4 and am currently sitting at level 13 without playing any other modes since then.
An Obvious Cash Grab
While building my own village in Fortnite was much more fun and accessible for me than I expected, I had to wonder why Epic had introduced it in the first place. With Lego sandbox games like Lego Worlds already in existence, the real question becomes - why does this exist?
When I asked my 20-year-old son, he thought it was because it offers a free option in a game that many people already have and if they don't, can easily download on nearly any platform. That makes a lot of sense and is definitely a big upside to Lego Fortnite. The sheer accessibility is reason enough to collaborate with Epic on Lego Fortnite.
In fact, I’ve never bought Lego Worlds but within a day of Lego Fortnite being available, I had already started my own village. That said, poking at this idea for more than just a few minutes gave me what I believe to be the true reason that Lego Fortnite exists. It’s all about the money. This goes for more than just the new Lego experience. All three new modes in Fortnite have added items to the shop. Rocket Racing has car bundles. Fortnite Festival has song tracks. Lego Fortnite has minifigs. A car in Rocket Racing will cost you as much as 4000 V-Bucks. Lego minifigs and audio tracks seem to be similarly priced as other skins in Fortnite.
Don’t misunderstand me. I fully believe that a business should be allowed to be a business. Microtransactions are the bread and butter of free-to-play games. Without a business model that appeals to kids everywhere and to adults like me, Epic would be forced to charge 60 bucks to everyone who wants to play Fortnite, and then every chapter would likely be a full-priced DLC. The model of dangling a carrot of desire in the face of millions of 10-year-olds, knowing full well that the item shop will sell just about anything, is a much better economic decision.
Further, there is added value in Fortnite having multiple modes to sell items from. Epic using their own IP means that Rocket Racing cars can be added to a Battle Royale loadout and also used in Rocket League. Fortnite Festival tracks can be played in the lobby. Lego skins can be used in a non-lego format to play either of the Battle Royale modes. While it seems rather nefarious to have all these different modes offering even more to buy in the shop, the added value of getting more use out of everything purchased is extremely clever from a business standpoint and much more useful as a user.
Conclusion
I have played several sandbox games to varying degrees of success. Games like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing are a very comfortable spot for me in the world of sandbox games, but more often than not, I’m simply not patient enough to go building new worlds. Lego Fortnite is changing that for me. It doesn’t make me want to run out and buy Lego Worlds or install Roblox. It does make me want to keep building my community here in Lego Fortnite.
In fact, Lego Fortnite is the sandbox experience I needed. It requires me to have creativity but at a different level than Minecraft or Terraria. It requires me to grind to go farther in my world but at a pace and level of my choosing. Despite being an obvious cash cow, Lego Fortnite is the best sandbox experience that I’ve played in a very long while, and I can’t recommend it enough for players of all skill levels who are interested in building their own community.
