New ‘Battle Royale’ mode in ‘Fortnite’ will be completely free on September 26

Epic Games’ survival shooter Fortnite has been out in “paid early access” for less than two months, but a portion of the game will soon be completely free to play across all systems. “Battle Royale,” a mode inspired by both the Japanese film of the same name as well as the recent success of
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, will be free on Tuesday, September 26 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Mac. Go to your respective storefront and you will see an option to download the individual mode, rather than the full game. “We launched a public test [for the mode] and it worked better than we expected,” Epic Games explained on its forums. “We want the game to reach as many players as possible, so we decided to release Battle Royale for free sooner than we anticipated.” Much like Battlegrounds, the Battle Royale mode in Fortnite takes place on a single huge map, with 100 players attempting to murder each other, but Epic Games has also worked in its structure-building mechanics in order to make it a little more strategic. An elevated position in Battle Royale doesn’t guarantee success, as launch pads can be used to quickly reach sniper positions, and traps can be set for unsuspecting combatants. In the trailer, we see one player walk through a doorway only to be zapped to death by bolts of electricity. Squads will also be added to Battle Royale, allowing players to team up and take down opponents together. More maps are planned for the future, and Epic is working on adding vehicles but isn’t sure how they will be implemented yet. Epic Games stressed in its announcement that the mode won’t be “pay-to-win,” and at launch, it doesn’t appear that there will be microtransactions in the mode at all. “At some point in the future, we will sell other things including cosmetics or compendium-like content,” the announcement added. If you purchased
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 within the last week specifically to play Battle Royale, Epic Games will be offering refunds, as well. The “Save the World” campaign currently available through the paid version will become free to play at some point in 2018. Currently, there is no connection between the two modes, even for cosmetic items. Every new Fortnite season is a massive event for players. While not quite on the scale of a new Chapter, seasons still bring about a plethora of changes to the ever-evolving Battle Royale island to keep players hooked to the game. New skins, abilities, quests, weapons, and a new battle pass to complete are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of fresh content. If a particular season doesn’t quite do it for you, or if you’ve already unlocked all the cosmetics in your Battle Pass and are eagerly awaiting the beginning of the next one, knowing when to mark your calendar is essential. Let’s dive into when you can expect the next Fortnite season to begin.
When does the next Fortnite season start?
We are currently in Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 4 which is fast approaching its end. Typically, the next season in Fortnite’s chronology would be a Season 5, but that’s not the case. Fortnite players will see a big change to how they gain experience starting in December. Epic Games announced Monday that it’s simplifying progress so that players can earn experience toward all three battle passes at once. This battle pass for the battle royale portion already works like this: You can earn experience to progress through the battle pass track by playing in any Fortnite section. However, this wasn’t the case with the Festival and Lego passes for Fortnite Festival and Lego Fortnite, respectively. That’s changing after the current seasons and passes end later this year. Fate Trigger: The Novita is a new battle royale game from Saroasis, a Chinese studio made up of developers who worked on mobile versions of games like Call of Duty and Apex Legends, and Tencent. It’s free to play and will be available on PC, consoles, and mobile. Closed Alpha on Sep 25 // Announcement Trailer – Fate Trigger Upgrade your lifestyleDigital Trends helps readers keep tabs on the fast-paced world of tech with all the latest news, fun product reviews, insightful editorials, and one-of-a-kind sneak peeks.