Fortnite’s new season adds War Buses, rocket-propelled fists, and a lawless desert biome

We’ve known for some time that Fallout was coming to Fortnite, we just weren’t entirely sure in what capacity. Well, now we know that this season’s wasteland offerings take the form of a sort of Mad Max meets Fallout meets Borderlands- battle royale affair. There’s a big emphasis on deserts and vehicles, basically, with highlights including: mechanical fists, turrets on cars, and the possibility of manning one of two War Buses that patrol the reworked map.

Fortnite’s new season (Chapter 5, Season 3) is out right this second and the map’s been hit with a big old sandstorm that’s birthed a new Wasteland biome. It’s home to red earth and a gang of unruly folks called the “Wasteland Warriors”, who drive juiced up scrap on wheels. Their base of operations is a ship they’ve the front out of, making it look like a shark’s head. It’s actually pretty cool, to be fair.

Here’s a look at the new map layout, via a Xweet:

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For me, highlights include rocket-propelled metal gloves called the Nitro Fists, that let you charge powerful uppercuts or perform aerial punches that dash you through the air. And as a personal fan of driving about, this season seems entirely aimed at folks like me. There’s a bunch of new car mods, letting you attach machine guns or grenade launchers or spiked bumpers to your ride. This is good, because I find battle royales are at their finest when you’ve got groups of people accidentally bumping into each other in metal boxes and then panic-fighting.

There’s also a couple of metal boxes to be wary of, and that’s in the form of War Buses. They’re like the Battle Bus but Mad Max-ified, with two cannons on top and a horn that produces an EMP pulse capable of disabling vehicles or hurting enemy shields. You’ll find AI baddies driving two of these things around the map, and acting as a sort of hotspot for control. Fend everyone off, including the AI baddies, and your squad gets a honkin’ great war wagon – lovely.

I also like the fact Epic have thought how to best a bunch of vehicles if you’re vehicleless. The new Boom Bolt crossbow shoots explosive bolts that’ll total cars and War Buses in only a few hits if you’re accurate enough.

If you’re after all the tweaks and changes, you can find them over on Epic’s patch notes page.