BY PETER PAYIATIS

To the students of MHS and people across the world, Fortnite, the newest video game craze sweeping the nation, is more than just a game. Breaking the monotony of the school and work week and bringing back video game camaraderie, Fortnite is making waves in the video game world and is here to stay. 

Released July 25th, 2017, Fortnite is a co-op sandbox survival video game, which essentially means the player doesn’t have restrictions and is free to roam around and play with friends.

“It’s basically hunger games with guns and an ever impending ‘storm’ that forces you to go into a smaller radius each time it closes,” described Junior James Dimichele.

In the few months the game has been out, it has amassed over 45 million players over all consoles and PC systems. Much of this success is attributed to the strong social media buzz about Fortnite, most notably popular memes that helped the game into the mainstream market. The incentivised gameplay of leveling up and achieving “Victory Royale” or being the last one alive hence winning the game keep players motivated and driven to play.

“I don’t play often but I have four wins, I hope to get more in the future though,” says Junior Chad Fanta.

The co-op aspect of the game is also a big factor in the popularity of it.

Sophomore Wesley Adams says, “Squad is the best way to play, a late night sesh with a bunch of friends and snacks is the best.”

Squad, the four player group mode, instigates a type of companionship from working together that is infectious and keeps players hooked. There is also duos, the two player group, solo, and sniper shootout which is squad but with only snipers and pistols.

Walking through the halls of the school it is likely you would find at least one person watching a Fortnite gameplay livestream playing on someones computer. These live streams, most often on YouTube, amass thousands of viewers and the streamers stream for hours on end often through the night since for a lot of them it is their career and main source of income. Some popular streamers include Avxry, TheTypicalGamer, and AlexRamiGaming. 

Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, reported that many updates will be made to the game in the future keeping it new and fun.  

Junior Avery Brinkman says, “I love Fortnite. It’s the only thing that gets me through the school week. I can’t wait to see the future updates.”