After a minor leak, Fortnite's long-awaited and hyped first 5v5 FPS mode is arriving next week, and it sounds like Epic Games' own version of Counter-Strike's tug-of-war combat.
Epic Games has just introduced Fortnite Ballistic, a 5v5 competitive mode that is played entirely in first person for the first time in the Battle Royale's seven-year history and will enter “early access” status on December 11. In this case, early access just means that Ballistic will have one map at launch and a more limited set of weapons and items to play with, although, as expected, the developers plan to “make adjustments based on player feedback.” and add new maps, weapons and features” over time.
The rest of the mode seems to follow the model of the classic Terrorists vs. Counter Strike Counter Terrorists, although this time the two sides are simply called Attackers and Defenders, probably to avoid the controversy of 7 year old parents who play Fortnite, and instead of planting a bomb, the attackers are fighting to set up something called Rift Point Device. You can place the, err, device in one of two locations, and a round ends when it explodes or when a team is completely eliminated, as there are no respawns here. After six rounds, the two teams will switch sides. And whoever wins seven rounds first will be crowned the overall winner.
Despite launching in an early access state, Fortnite Ballistic will still offer ranked and unranked modes for those who don't want to sweat too much. “Unranked play offers a more casual ballistics experience and has support for players who drop out of matches,” a press release explains. “Ranked play is for those who want to test their talents against other players in a more competitive environment: the winning team gains rank and the losing team loses rank.” You can read all about the mode and its rules on the official Epic Games blog.
Fortnite's permanent OG mode will preserve “some of the rough edges” of the classic Battle Royale era, but certain quality of life improvements have also made the cut.