Fortnite’s latest live event was the weirdest yet

Fortnite just wrapped up its last large-scale live event, and it felt weird – even by Fortnite standards. The event, dubbed “Fracture”, was meant to be a send-off for Fortnite Chapter 3, and now that it’s over, the game is done before the next chapter launches on December 4, which will introduce not just a new island, but characters like the witcher himself, Geralt of Rivia.

Before things got started, players were split into groups, hanging out on tiny floating islands with little to do, but watching a countdown displayed on a TV screen. (My trio of players all sat around roasting marshmallows together.) This was followed by a cutscene in which The Herald, a relatively new Fortnite character, led a tornado attack, and after a bit of a fight, a gigantic chrome version of her appeared, somehow causing the entire island to explode into many, many pieces.

Following this, players found themselves floating among debris in space, while being told “home is gone” just before ground zero – a sort of superpowered energy source in Fortnite lore – lassoed a bunch of destroyed island shards along with players. From there, everyone had to work together to collect Energy Orbs to power up Zero Point for reasons that weren’t entirely clear.

While past Fortnite the events were heavy with action, if it was a battle against Galactus Where explosive alien invasion, this one was a bit more understated. Sometimes it felt like a busy job. In order to power up Zero Point, players had to complete simple tasks like building a snowman or finding matching items to collect energy. They might also relive brief flashbacks of past events – such as the mech vs kaiju battle Where the rolling cube – and talk to a few NPCs for basic quests. As the portal powered up, more fragments of the destroyed island appeared.

Once Zero Point is powered up, the event transitions to another cutscene, in which Paradigm – a Fortnite character played by Brie Larson – appeared to oversee the formation of a new island.

The whole thing lasted about 45 minutes, and it lacked the thrill of past events. (However, just like its predecessors, it made absolutely no sense unless plugged into Fortnite‘s ongoing story.) Currently, players who log in can’t do much more than watch a loading screen with a preview of the new island in the background. But that won’t last long: Chapter 4 is due to launch on December 4, and the splash screen shows a number of new characters coming, including the Doom Slayer and Geralt. The art also teases the introduction of dirt bikes.