Fortnite Season 4 ended up with a ton of map updates, some major ones (see the huge crater that once stood Dusty Depot) but many more tiny updates. Small craters, camera crews and a warehouse dance club are harmless changes at first glance, most of which change thematically and match the color of the blockbuster heroes and villains of the fourth season.
But with each week the additions to Fortnite’s map come in season 4. Some existing set pieces have changed slightly. The research facility in downtown Dusty Divot looked like it was setting up camp, but in Week 2 the facility built a roof to encapsulate the glowing rock in the center. Minor changes have also occurred in otherwise abandoned parts of the map, with a mysterious indestructible vault emerging in the Wailing Forest. With all of the evidence at hand and our conspiracy hats on the wall, let’s guess what might be waiting for you in Fortnite Season 4.
What’s in the hatch?
Head into Wailing Forest and you will find one of the easiest map additions yet: an indestructible hatch that leads nowhere. So far, no one has been able to damage the structure, but this is very deliberate. Some players were able to use the replay editor to take a look at what’s underneath and found nothing. The addition could just be a cheeky reference to the television show Lost, in which a stranded group of melodramatic idiots find a mysterious hatch on an island. Or the hatch could just be unfinished, an intentional, passing red herring drawing our attention to an inevitable update.
Perhaps the Wailing Woods will get an underground facility with multiple openings to make it a more alluring area for looters. Recent patch notes say the chances of going full circle in the outer areas of the map have increased by 25 percent, so a makeover for Wailing Woods makes perfect sense. But we might just find one Scottish guy putting numbers into a computer.
What about the missile silo and the villa?
Two major map additions in season 4 landed on diametrically opposite sides of the map, suggesting a relationship between them. A missile silo has been embedded into the side of the western hills, featuring dark halls and eerie purple iconography. It is hard to imagine that this missile would be used to save the world.
The mansion attached to the east coast is a bit lighter and is reminiscent of Bruce Wayne’s colorful excavations. In his basement is an equally lighter hiding place adorned with a flawless blue logo. Purple: bad. Blue: good. But who are the big players here? What kind of destruction will they lag behind when they finally tackle it?
Salty Springs hides a smaller hiding place in the basement of a suburban home, but this implies the presence of a third party listening. That or Fortnite also has a fair share of preppers. I can’t really blame them. Rockets and meteorites and an endless fight between unusually dressed teenagers on their home lawn.
The big meteorite could be an egg
If Dusty Divot stayed static for more than two weeks, I’d think that the great slice of space rock in its midst was nothing more than dressing up for the season four theme. But in week 2 the research facility was completed and the large rock was covered by the facility’s new roof. Sure, this stone is of great importance and now, oh god, maybe it’s not a stone but an egg that is getting ready to hatch?
But for what purpose? I wouldn’t expect Epic Games to animate a massive alien creature and release it on the island – or at least not until Thanos showed up in a temporary game mode. When the creature shows up, we may get a new temporary game mode similar to Thanos’ that doesn’t require an ongoing license agreement. Perhaps a Godzilla-but-not-Godzilla ™ ripping through these tall buildings would be a more appropriate way to say goodbye after all of the downfall of season three titled “Towers Doomsaying”. There’s more evidence to support the great dinosaur theory, and it’s a little more on the nose.
Dino mothers or movie magic?
A giant dinosaur footprint leveled a house in the southwest corner of the map, or so it appears. Could it be the egg mother coming over to check on her baby? Unlikely, especially since the island wasn’t completely destroyed.
The blockbuster challenges reward screens every week and the first determines the meteorites to be real, which surprised the search between a mysterious hatch film crews. The following image is accompanied by this caption: “Notes from the director: He finally pulled himself together when everything collapsed …”
If these filmmakers aren’t looking to make the ultimate meta-movie, we can be sure that the big holes in the floor were made by space stones. Which also means that we can bet that the big egg in the middle of the map isn’t the set for a science fiction film in the Fortnite universe.
Honestly, none of this makes much sense and that’s fine because Battle Royale was made in two months. We consider an incipient theme and narrative taking shape. Don’t expect Dark Souls lore here, although I’m starting to feel something like cohesion. Good, Bad, and Aliens is a decent starting point.
