Classic or stale? A Fortnite Season 7 review

Fortnite Season 7 is now three weeks old, and I’ve spent enough time on the island to know what I think.

For reference, I didn’t like Season 6. It was too much for me. Crafting, NPCs, Quests, Bounties, Gold Bars, Primal Weapons, an awful shotgun meta for half of the season – Epic had polluted the game.

Since that was the case, though, Season 7 truly feels both new and familiar. Ahead, I’ll give you my thoughts on the new season – as someone who has played the game since the first day it came out.

Epic Games

Fun but overpowered

The title of this section perfectly describes almost all of the new weapons and items added to Season 7.

The UFOs, and Rail Gun, and the Recon Scanner are all incredibly fun to use and infuriating to go up against.

Ideally, Epic would strike a balance between fun and effectiveness, but this meta is a lot better than those of the past – where we had overpowered weapons or items that weren’t even that fun to use.

Epic Games

Fixing old systems

Epic added a new element or two to each recent Fortnite season. This season, they opted to skip a game-changing mechanic in favor of fixing some old ones.

Crafting is the best example of this. The Season 6 crafting system was both convoluted and necessary.

You couldn’t guarantee a weapon loadout you wanted without engaging with it, so it required an extra step for you to feel “ready” for a fight.

Epic Games

Season 7 changed this. Crafting is still there, but you don’t have to farm specific materials for specific kinds of weapons.

You only need to use bolts scattered around the map, and only have to engage with the system if you want a Lever Action Shotgun or Rapid-Fire SMG – two weapons that aren’t must-carries.

It’s worth mentioning that Epic added a quality-of-life improvement to the Shakedown mechanic as well. You can now cancel the animation, which was a much-requested change to a useful part of Fortnite.

Epic Games

Same old map

Now, for the biggest negative of Season 7. We have a near identical map to last season.

Fatal Fields (now Corny Complex) is back and we have a couple of new POIs, but most of the “changes” are in name only. Believer Beach is just Sweaty Sands with Bouncers.

The biggest change, so far, has come in a content update after release. The Mothership is now a POI, but you have to be abducted to get into it.

There are rumors that Coral Castle will be getting nuked in the future, which would be awesome. Two weeks into release, though, not much has changed since last season.

Epic Games

Big updates to come?

Speaking of the leaked Coral Castle change, I get the feeling that Season 7 will have more updates than the last couple of seasons did.

We’ve already seen several leaks about new weapons and map changes, so we could be getting a lot more content to add to this review. We may even need to revisit this topic halfway through the season.

Epic Games

A return to form

Epic always seem to find a way to add all kinds of things that players hate, fix or remove them, then bring Fortnite back closer to the place it was one or two years ago.

Season 7 seems like a return to form for Fortnite, which I’ve said about three or four times since Chapter 2 began.

You know how video games like CoD or Madden – yearly releases – remove certain features from the game, only to bring them back years later and treat them as a selling point? Fortnite did the same thing, here; but I don’t think it’s a bad thing.

Epic Games

We have Launch Pads, Upgrade Benches, and powerful Pumps again. The convoluted Gold and Crafting system have been simplified. Fortnite is about as close to its roots as it can get in 2021.

I need to see a few balance changes in Season 7. Namely, the overpowered weapons I mentioned. The price of upgrading weapons is also way too high.

Still, this is a pretty great season. Players who skipped Season 6 will be happy to return and see what’s new (and old). I suggest checking it out.

Final Grade: 8/10 Good Fortnite Season.