I’ve been a gamer since a very young age. I cut my teeth on the Atari 2600 and dabbled with the Commodore 64 before proceeding to SEGA and Nintendo’s wares. Since then I’ve chased trophies on PlayStation, enjoyed gaming on the go with Switch and entered the world of VR with Meta Quest. Despite my long love affair with gaming, I’ve steered clear of heading online. Compared to the early days of online play offered by the likes of ChuChu Rocket and Phantasy Star Online, today’s offering is certainly more advanced. But the thought of being yelled at by 12 years whilst playing online has never appealed to me which is why I’ve never really got into Fortnite.
Since it was revealed that Epic Games and the LEGO Group were cooking something up, I bit the bullet and downloaded it again and now I’m obsessed. Whilst the Battle Royale side of things is great fun, LEGO Fortnite is a completely different beast. In fact, if you’ve been hoping for a reskinned version of Fortnite featuring LEGO characters and a little more building, you’ll be disappointed. It’s worth thinking of Fortnite as now being a platform as opposed to just a game and LEGO Fortnite along with Rocket Racing and the music-based Festival content are experiences which can now be played within Fortnite.
LEGO Fortnite is billed as a survival crafting game and is as far from the main Fortnite experience as you can get. As you begin building your adventure, you’ll have the option to enter a survival world or a sandbox one. Survival is the main experience and once your world has been generated you’ll be dropped into it in minifigure form. Over 1000 current Fortnite outfits have been given a ‘LEGO Style’ version. Some are a little more detailed than others so any characters you may currently have in your locker will most likely have a LEGO variant. For obvious reasons not every standard Fortnite character outfit will get a ‘LEGO Style’ but most of the original characters have or will have and it’s possible some IP content could get ‘LEGO Styles’ such as the recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters with rumours of Star Wars and Marvel ‘LEGO Styles’ on the way.
Once in your world, it’s just you there, unless you invite some friends along to play. You are then tasked with founding your encampment which will become a village with the right materials. The world is littered with materials which can be collected, these include food, wood and rocks. I highly recommend collecting everything you see as you’ll need these materials to expand your dwellings and craft tools. A helpful character will be on hand to guide you but it’s mostly a case of learning the ropes for yourself. As your camp grows into a village other characters will stop by and you have the option to ask them to live with you. Once they are onboard as villagers you’re able to give them jobs or join you on your adventures.
Building had always been a part of Fortnite, building forts to protect yourself in Battle Royale mode was a key feature of the gameplay. But it’s been greatly expanded upon in LEGO Fortnite. You can build anything from a campfire to a house, with different items requiring different materials. Once you open build mode you’ll be greeted with various structures or items you can build. The buildings require the most work and you’ll be given sections to add to them. Once selected a transparent grid with prompt you as to where they should go. It’s a simple way to build but can be a little frustrating at times once the builds get bigger. But it’s far more fun and user-friendly than LEGO Worlds was.
To expand your tools and village you’ll need to head out and explore. Make sure you have a pickaxe, axe and sword at the very least. Plus you can take others with you and craft health charms to aid you in your exploration. You’ll be doing a lot of this as some materials can only be found in certain biomes. The Grasslands are brimming with wood, granite and vines, with its caves providing marble and knotroot wood. Heading to the desert area will allow you to source amber and flex wood. I highly recommend building beds and setting them as respawn spots the further you venture from your village. If you are taken out in the field, you lose all your items but they can be retrieved by collecting your backpack. So if you respawn nearby, the journey to collect your lost items isn’t so bad.
The world map in LEGO Fortnite is huge, I’ve been playing it for a while and have barely scratched the surface of what my world has to offer. It can take me a good 20 minutes in real time to travel from my village to the desert for example. As mentioned, just make sure you are fully prepared with a couple of each of the tools, plus food items to keep your health up and hunger at bay plus shed any unnecessary items. That way you can fill up in rarer materials which are much further away.
It’s a far more chilled experience than the main Fortnite game but it’s just as fun. Making sure you have the right tools, some food and a helpful companion before setting off to explore is genuinely fun. I’m discovering new things every time I play from rogue Supply Llamas to fearsome beasts. I even found a Everyone is Awesome set floating in the sky. It’s certainly not perfect, building can get annoying at times mainly when you are building a larger structure. Fast travel points would also be super helpful allowing you to still experience the fun of exploring but not have to trek for what feels like an age simply to grab certain materials.
If you prefer, you can also try Sandbox Mode, this drops you into a world but all tools, animals, food and build plans are unlocked and you can travel around the map by flying. You won’t get hungry or have to face any enemies. It’s great for trying everything out but not as fun as exploring in Survival Mode, though the flying ability makes getting around and building so much easier.
Although it’s a different experience from Fortnite’s other modes, LEGO Fortnite still has things familiar to the original game. You can emote with your minifigure character, the building option is similar to Battle Royale and things such as Supply Llama, Golden Chests and Supply Drops appear every so often.
Epic Games has already stated LEGO Fortnite is a permanent addition to Fortnite and there will be regular updates and new content added in 2024 and beyond. That also goes for the game’s ‘LEGO Style’ variants, which will see some outfits gaining better-detailed versions at a later date. What’s most impressive is that LEGO Fortnite is free to play, apart from some characters, you don’t need to spend a penny on additional content to be able to enjoy the main experience. Plus there are free characters to gain from linking your Epic Game and LEGO Insiders accounts, taking part in seasonal events and from PlayStation Plus.
LEGO Fortnite is playable within the main Fortnite game. Fortnite is free to play on PlayStation 4, 5 & Portal, Xbox series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC and Cloud Gaming. Versions reviews – PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch (handheld mode) and Xbox Cloud Gaming on Meta Quest 3.
