I launched the game for the first time in six years, waited through the loading screens, and got to the main menu.
When launching a game for the first time, I tend to start with digging through the menus to look at the options and get a feel for what's where.
I didn't know what to expect, but I certainly wasn't prepared for the amount of options I was presented with.
The main screen had some of the game modes listed, but also included a large variety of user-created game modes.
Scrolling down just pulled up more categories that mostly consisted of more user creations.
Moving away from the initial screen just presented even more to take into consideration.
Obviously, there was the store where good money goes to die horribly and rot in microtransaction hell.
I knew to expect that. I also expected some kind of challenge system, but it was even greater in scale than I had imagined.
There were many categories, with each providing their own range of challenges to be completed.
The inventory mostly made sense, although there were more customization options in the game than I had realized.
Going into the settings was nice.
I did not feel perpetually confused taking in the menu for the settings.
It's almost embarrassing to say, but I got overwhelmed with trying to process everything for the first time and I closed the game without even attempting to get into a match.
After giving it about an hour, I reopened the game and continued making sense of what I was looking at.
When the "Zero Build" version of the battle royale mode was announced,
I thought that was being introduced as a limited-time gimmick that would replace the standard BR mode for a while, then be taken back out.
Apparently, not the case.
Thanks to the game listing the number of active players for each mode,
I was able to make an interesting observation.
It seems like the no-build mode is at least as popular as the mode with building, possibly even more so.
I wouldn't have guessed that.
Over time, more game modes had been added to Fortnite.
I didn't realize just how many there were.
"Save the World" was the original idea for what Fortnite was supposed to be and I wasn't surprised to see it in the game.
I was surprised to see that Epic was still charging money for the privilege of actually playing it.
With the success of their microtransaction store and addition of other game modes,
I was somewhat expecting this to have become just another part of the free-to-play experience.
I would consider trying it, but I planned to start with what's available without additional purchases.
Moving past the original mode and the battle royale modes, many of the additions seem strange to me.
They've added something that looks like a Guitar Hero clone, a car racing game mode based on Rocket League,
the Lego Fortnite mode which may be similar to Minecraft in some respects but may be something totally original that just seems like it from the menu options for starting a world,
and some form of in-game level building system that I haven't investigated yet.
On their own, none of these are particularly weird in any way except for the "Rocket Racing" mode,
with my only hang-up there being why it was added as a mode to Fortnite instead of Rocket League.
What makes this strange to me is that they're all included as parts of the same game centered around the totally unrelated battle royale and survival mode experiences.
My only guess for why this approach was taken was to centralize the modes around the same in-game item store.
I'll lay out my thoughts about the store later.
EDIT: Since this was written, I've spent a good amount of time playing user-created modes. The "haven't investigated yet" originally applied to both playing them and making them. Now, it only applies to the process of making a map/mode.
I didn't want to jump into any sort of grand build-a-thon right out of the gate... or at all. Zero Build seemed like the way to go. Additionally, there were special Avatar-themed challenges going on, with completion of enough challenges awarding a special Appa glider. The challenges would take some time to complete and were being released every few days over the course of about two weeks. Sure, it would make for a nice thing to have, but it was also a perfect target because of that schedule. To get the Appa glider, I'd need to put in a number of play sessions lasting more than an hour over the course of a couple weeks. Coincidentally, a fair shot at changing my opinion of it would happen due to the time I'd need to put in anyway. I had no real interest in trying the racing mode or the GH clone, but if I wasn't immediately hating Zero Build, then I'd likely try some user creations and the Lego mode. If those went well, then I might pony up the cash to give the survival mode a try.