Battle Royale is a relatively new genre in gaming that has gained massive popularity in the past couple of years, and for a good reason. There is a great deal of fun in trying to become the last survivor out of a hundred in a huge map with tons of things to collect. However, one thing about these types of games is that if you get killed, that’s it, your match is over. This is fine if you play with strangers since you can just exit and join a new game, but if you play in a squad with your friends, you must wait for them to finish before you all can play together again. To address this, Apex Legends – the latest hit in the genre – has included a respawn feature where players can go to a Respawn Beacon to resurrect a fallen teammate. Now, Fortnite is reportedly working on something similar.
In an Ask Me Anything (AMA) thread held on Reddit on February 22, an Epic Games stated that they have considered including a respawn mechanic to Fortnite Battle Royale and that players should keep an eye out for more updates on this subject when the new season starts. It is said in the thread that they “have been exploring” this mechanic, but want to give it more time to see how it will impact the game.
Typically, a Fortnite season lasts for roughly 2 months, and the ongoing Season 7 began in December 2018. There is no confirmation that the respawning is arriving along with Season 8, but we can “look for further updates” at that time.
Giving players the ability to resurrect might sound like it’s going against the idea of battle royale games, where the primary goal is to become the last man (or woman) standing, but Apex Legends has apparently done an excellent job of including this concept in a sensible way that doesn’t break the game. So far, players seem to be quite happy with it alongside many other innovations that the game has made. Right now, though, no further information about a similar feature in Fortnite is available. It seems we will have to do as Epic said and wait for more updates in the coming weeks.