Fortnite Chapter 3 Impressions: The 5 coolest new things I saw

The first season of Fortnite Chapter 3 is here, and with it comes a huge overhaul to not only the map but the core gameplay. With a fresh new environment, it’s a whole new Fortnite. There’s lots of exciting new features and mechanics to take in, but here are the five that I’m most excited for.

Fortnite Chapter 3 Impressions: The 5 coolest new things I saw

1: Crowns

This is a new inter-match mechanic that rewards players for placing highly in matches. You don’t need to win to get the crown; you only need to make it to the top four in Solo, top two in Duos or win in Trios/Squads.

Then, you’ll start the next game with the crown for an XP bonus. If you win with a crown, you get an exclusive emote that shows the total of Crowned Victory Royales you have this Season. I’m glad the bonus is entirely cosmetic and just for flexing, and that it’s not a currency like in Fall Guys.

2: Sliding

Speaking of other extraordinarily popular multiplayer games, Fortnite once again takes a page from Apex Legends’s book and implements a sliding mechanic. Hold crouch while running and you’ll go into a slide, and if you’re going downhill you’ll cover some extra distance. Of course, you can still fire your weapon.

This introduces an entirely new dimension to Fortnite. Up until now, Fortnite’s predominate strategy was to outmaneuver enemies by building. Crouching gives non-builders a little extra to their kit, and comes after a few Seasons’ worth of anti-build measures in the weapon pool.

Even more interesting is the prospects this has on building as a whole. Will we see the long established build paradigm adopt new strategies?

3:  Biomes

Chapter 2’s Apollo map had one key problem: it was sparse. Looking at the aerial view of it, you could see that it was mostly green and had tons of space between POIs and Landmarks. When Chapter 2 launched, I saw lots of veteran players fall off Fortnite due to the downtime between action compared to other games like Apex Legends or Warzone.

The new Artemis map for Chapter 3 looks much more promising, with a variety of biomes and locations. Currently, there are three proper biomes: tundra in the west, tropics in the east and desert in the south. It seems that the weather will also be a factor, and the climate of the island will change over time.

These new radically different locations force you to change your combat strategy. The plateaus of the south were particularly fun for sniping.

4: Quests and exploration

My favorite part of any open-world game is the exploration at the beginning. The part of the game when your gear sucks, enemies kill you by breathing on you and new locales are around every corner. For those same reasons, the start of a Season is always an exciting time.

But this is the start of a whole new Chapter, so the entire map is completely different. Chapter 3 maintains the same Quest and Punchcard system from C2S8, one that I was personally a fan of but definitely had problems.

The Quest and XP layout in-game have a new, sleek look that feels more like a highly polished RPG. Combined with the new island and the amazing intro cutscene, the new island feels grand and the game elevated.

Also, my favorite location is back: the Butter Barn.

5: Camping

This one kind of baffles me. The new Tent item creates a spot that you can use to rest and heal between matches, but it also lets you store up to three items for later use. And by later, they really mean later as you can access stored items in a Tent across matches. Of course, you’ll need to find another tent in that match first.

Ever score an Epic or Legendary early in the game? Store the Rare weapons you’re not using for a later match to get a loot boost. Shove some Shield Potions in for a guaranteed top-up.