The best features you don’t remember from Fortnite Season 1

Debuting on October 26, 2017, fans remember Fortnite Season 1 for the introduction of battle royale and iconic skins.

Fortnite has long held its status as the most popular battle royale game, with over a million players online at a time. Despite their age, the original Fortnite seasons have maintained such popularity that the last part of Chapter 4 mimicked the 5-X seasons from 2018. Leaked roadmaps suggest that a similar OG season could be coming December 2024, perhaps including Season 1 this time.

With another throwback season on the horizon, here are the key features from Fortnite Season 1 that could hint toward future seasons.

Introducing battle royale

While battle royale may be common game mode in other games, Fortnite Season 1 brought in a new, revolutionary mechanic.

Fortnite’s first battle royale season was retrospectively dubbed “First Steps” because of its novelty in the world of gaming. Most notably, the new mode allowed players to interact with their environment and build various items. Most destroyed objects drop wood, stone, or metal that can then be used to make shields, ramps, and more. Although constructables could be damaged or destroyed by other players, strategic building could help a player become the last one on the map.

Later seasons would involve a connection to a loose larger story, but Season 1 was still trying to get its feet under itself ,so to speak. Other following changes include skill-based matchmaking, practice bots, and user-made islands. Players now are very familiar with the battle royale and building mechanics, but its impact in gaming can’t be understated.

The now-defunct Fortnite season shop

Before the battle pass, Epic Games instead had the Fortnite season shop alongside the item shop.

The Fortnite season shop functioned similarly to the battle pass in that players could level up to get access to new skins and items. Each was available from the patch update in November until the season’s end in December 2017.

The season shop had only four items available to unlock and buy.

• Aerial Assault glider, level 5 and 500 vbucks
• Aerial Trooper skin
• Renegade Raider skin
• Raider’s Revenge pickaxe, level 35 and 1,500 vbucks

None of these items have been seen available since the beginning of Season 2 when Epic Games closed the shop, making them some of the rarest in the game. Players who want to wear the Aerial Trooper skin or use the Raider’s Revenge pickaxe may have to get lucky in trades or pay a lot of real-world cash.

Skins that debuted in Fortnite Season 1

Because Fortnite was still new in 2017 with only a few outfits upon release, all of the following Season 1 skins are original creations.

With the season running from October to December, many of the skins feature holiday designs like Ghoul Trooper. The other major character theme is special forces and skews military in art style. Here are all 22 original sweaty skins.

• Aerial Trooper, season shop
• Renegade Raider, season shop
• First Strike Specialist
• Ghoul Trooper
• Recon Expert
• Scout
• Skull Trooper
• Assault Trooper
• Ranger
• Trooper
• Special Forces
• Tracker
• Brawler
• Pathfinder
• Recon Scout
• Desperado
• Renegade
• Survival Specialist
• Munitions Expert
• Commando
• Infiltrator
• Recon Specialist

Many of the original skins are similar because they’re based around the same model. For instance, Ramirez can be found as the basis for Commando, Ghoul Trooper, Munitions Expert, and Recon Specialist. Other models used frequently in Fortnite Season 1 include Jonesy, Renegade, and Headhunter. With the exception of the battle pass outfits, the old skins usually rotate through the shop.

Fortnite’s second Marvel season kicks off on August 16, so any fans looking forward to another remake season should keep their eyes peeled for any hints.