After Tilted Towers suffered a dramatic death-by-volcano last week, many were wondering whether the famous hotbed of sweats would ever be resurrected – but season 9 is upon us, and so is the new version of Tilted Towers. You can’t keep this place down.
The season 9 update, which has just gone live, once again makes a number of major changes to Fortnite. The most noticeable are the addition of two new (or revamped) locations, Neo Tilted and a souped-up version of Retail Row called Mega Mall. I’m not going to lie, the latter looks like it’s about 90 per cent car park – true to a mall shopping experience, I suppose.
The narrative explanation for the new locations is shown in the Fortnite season 9 cinematic, which picks up from the aftermath of the volcanic eruption. The trailer’s two protagonists – Peely (the banana skin) and Jonesy can be seen running from the carnage into a bunker. Things get a little morbid, with Peely meeting a rather unfortunate fate, before the refugees are rescued and introduced to Neo Tilted.
Fortnite Season 9 Cinematic Trailer Watch on YouTube
Chief among season 9’s gameplay changes is the addition of slipstreams – a new transportation system which shoots players between giant rings. According to the patch notes, players are able to change direction when actively “trying to move down the stream”, so it sounds like these will essentially be one-way air roads. Intriguingly, the notes also explain directional input can be used to “gain extra velocity”, while “bobbing up and down” can result in higher speeds. I suppose these are meant to be a replacement for Fortnite’s balloons, which are also being vaulted in the update – something Christian Donlan is very upset about.
Projectiles and vehicles can also use the slipstream. I’ll just leave that there.
The patch notes also detail a new addition to movement in the form of air vents – environmental items which “launch players short distances and grant immunity to fall damage”. These can be found on the top of buildings, and function similarly to the volcanic vents found in season 8.