while i only played one round with CPU players, they disappointed greatly. CPU players kept accusing in the same room instead of moving between rooms. This lead to being constantly dragged back to the same room and having to struggle to get out of it. Now I'm sure it plays better with a group of buddies, but as a solo experience, it feels pretty bad.

Also, the tone of the game is too cheery and fun for the murder mystery aspect of the story. The 1998 game Clue: Murder at Boddy Mansion) captured the vibe a lot better.

I started this way back when I finished The Room Two (Jan. 7th), but fell off of it after the first few chapters. Picked it back up a couple days ago to get it off my phone.

This is more of The Room! Which is good. Love the kinetic nature of the puzzles, everything feels so cool to slide around. The objects and environments all look great! I feel though the Scale got too big. Many puzzles scale multiple rooms. There are multiple moments that require the player to take one object and scoot between 2 zoom levels, then though multiple door transitions, then zoom in again. Just a bit too much friction to make every puzzle satisfying when solved.

retroactively reviewing previous seasons post c5s1

This was the end of Chapter 2 and the messy story of it. CH2's Island was my island. I spent a lot of time playing during this chapter and I really remember it fondly.

This season though, was an interesting way to end it though. The Sideways mechanics, both the corruption domes and the sideways weapons were really fun to play with, not to mention the large Caretakers being very difficult bosses. The battle pass was mostly misses with Kor being a highlight.

Overall, it was a Season of Fortnite.

This game feels like it was made exactly for me- A Sniper Game that focuses on the Puzzle of Killing All the Dudes, With A Noise Soundtrack and Neon Grunge Art Direction, wrapped in a Girl Gets Murderous Revenge Story? It's what I call: Peak Art, Baybee!

I did get a little stuck on a couple of the Challenges and resorted to a quick search to see if others found it out. I could've probably figured it out, but it didn't feel like I lost much, as I still had to perform the challenge.

It was also cool to get rather high score placements (a handful of 100 +, two 50+). I could see getting even more hours out of this for score chasing.

The base game is definitely one of the best games I have ever Backseat gamed, as I watched this game be played. BUT, That was quite some time ago, and we only just now played the DLC Yuffie mission.

This was such an odd chunk of a DLC mission. The story was fun, and the time with Yuffie was great, but it felt very short. I feel like the implications of this DLC won't be understood until we get deeper into Rebirth. Also why did they make a full fledged Strategy game to fill out the DLC. Very weird.

retroactively reviewing previous seasons post c5s1

Definitely the weakest season in Chapter 3. The new island was great! A nice mixture of new and old locales, but in retrospect, none really felt terribly iconic at the beginning, as later seasons added my favorite Locations (Reality Tree, Rave Cave).

The introduction of the Spidey Gloves in this season has been a curse and a boon. One of the best swinging mechanics in any game ever. It feel so good to move through the air with them. On the other hand the continual repackaging/reintroduction of them within Fortnite: BR, is annoying. Having a dude swing in out of no where and then blast ya, then leave is majorly annoying.

retroactively reviewing previous seasons post c5s1

I found this season to quite okay. Not the best battle pass, but Erisa is cute. The story of the season felt okay, but ultimately boring. The tank was fun. The introduction of Zero Build was the best thing to come out of the season, which definitely has helped me stay interested in playing this game for as long as I have. While I did get Okay at building, I would never have got gud, as the time commitment for just one game's very specific mechanic was not worth it. Zero Build has been one of the best decisions Epic has made with the game.

retroactively reviewing previous seasons post c5s1.

yeah the chrome was kinda bad looking, but I really enjoyed this season overall. I really enjoyed the chrome goop movement mechanic, the evochrome weapons were some of the funnest in the game. battle pass rewards include some really great outfits including: Meow Skulls, Lennox Rose, Twyn, and Spider-Gwen.

Also this year's Fortnightmares was specifically made for me. A fem werewolf DJ blasting hard techno that turns you into a techno-werewolf. Hell Yeah dude. (BTW listen to Sara Landry, the DJ who mixed DJ Lyka's mix)

Anyhow, a great season to end a decent chapter.

retroactively reviewing seasons of fortnite post c5s1.

almost the best season out of chapter 4, with only S2 winning out because I liked the theme more.

quite a fun season. battle pass highlights are doomguy and Helsie, introducing the High Stakes Club mini storyline to the game. The loot this season was quite fun. I quite enjoyed bouncing around with the hammer, but my duos buddy did not. also didn't really care for the my hero academia collaboration, especially for the period where both Deku's smash and Goku's Kamehameha were going off at the same time.

Had a good time in this season.

while I'm reviewing these seasons reverse chronologically, I'd like to take a moment to praise this Island. I really enjoyed my time on it. With everything being a new locale, each new addition throughout the chapter was really fun to explore and discover.

retroactively reviewing previous seasons post c5s1.

quite an enjoyable season. fun battle pass with both Highwire and Imani. MEGA City was such a fantastic POI. They somehow made a rather normal sized POI feel so huge. Loved landing in any spot of the southern region. The weapons of this season were alright, the sword being okay, but no shockwave hammer. the odm gear was annoying, particularly with the quests it involved. the story was a bit convoluted and added too many factions, but I enjoyed it. overall, had a great time.

retroactively reviewing previous seasons post c5s1.

Bruh, ngl I didn't care for this season that much. the jungle was cool for about a month, but then I started to dislike it. loot pool wasn't all that, the temple puzzles were awkward. the introduction of the Autobots as lore characters was lame. ridable dinos were fun, but ultimately annoying. the Lore was moved forward by an inch again, but was not interesting. the battle pass didn't include anyone I'd equip on the regular, with the exception of Purridise Meowscles. Again, had fun, but this season wasn't that interesting.

edit: oh yeah the jujitsu kaisen collab was forgettable.

I'm retroactively reviewing previous seasons post c5s1.

i really want to say I liked this season, but the numbers don't lie. this is one of the seasons I played the least. It just wasn't that exciting. the heist locales were really well designed. The act of the three way battle between the Card NPCs, Other Players, and You, made it a stressful battle each time. it was great. Not to mention the music, spot on. Otherwise, the rest of the season was pretty mid. the lack of a true fortnightmares/halloween event. the inclusion of the tiktok shrug guy. i dunno man, a weird and uneventful way to end a chapter. also, none of this battle pass will likely be a consistent equip for me, so double meh.

I'm retroactively reviewing past seasons after finishing C5S1.

C4S:OG was massively okay. Was it cool to play on the fabled original island, I only briefly played on before? yeah! but as a one month rush to blast thru a battle pass, I dunno. I only really cared for the Lynx/Renegade mashup, in the pass, but Raven Team Leader, from the shop, will be a consistent equip for me.

also, the original loot pool is boring af.

Also, also: a bit disappointed they have decided to end/reset the storyline via some audio logs in here. Like, the Lore was a mess, Donald Mustard was leaving, so yeah I'm sure it had to happen somewhere, but I'll miss the unnecessaryly complex non-story that was the Zero Point saga.

I had a good time, but the prospect of them ending each chapter with an "OG" season is kinda lame. I guess as long as they let me go back to the Chapter 2 island at some point.

unfortunately, an underwhelming start to a new chapter. the new Island is very pretty and the major POI are well designed battle zones in my Zero Build experience. i wish the train was cooler, as by the 3rd time you land on it, you realize that it's not worth starting with it, maybe jump on if it happens to pass u by, and it's going in a safe direction. hopefully they find some ways to make it cooler in later seasons this chapter.

the new weapon modding is arguably arbitrary, as most weapons have one good load out, that you just have to be lucky enough to find or just always purchase at the mod bench. I'll miss the Balistic Sheild, as I'm sure it'll stay vaulted. They somehow designed a weapon that felt perfectly balanced and completely OP with it.

The Battle Pass was okay. Love the designs of Hope, Oscar, Jonesy, and Valaria. The rest were pretty good too. The inclusion of both Solid Snake and Peter Griffin is hilarious, but I'll never use Griffin and I'll likely use the Item Shop's Raiden more than Snake.

Now, I'm a sucker for Fornite Lore, and was thoroughly disappointed by this season's story. "Jonesy joins new good guys to rescue Peely from new bad guys" is like 90% of it. the other 10% was that Srgt. Winter showed up again, and the TMNT showed up to help the new Good Guys.

all in all, as almost always, I had a good time in this season of zero build battle royale. now my thoughts on Fortnite Festival, Rocket Racing, and LEGO Fortnite are much more mixed, but I'll get to those later on their own pages.