Fortnite Is Epic Games First Unreal Engine 4-Powered Title, Arrives Only on PC

Epic Games has finally started detailing Fortnite, its next big game, confirming that it would be powered by the all-new Unreal Engine 4 technology and that was going to be released only on the PC next year.

Fortnite was presented late last year at the 2011 VGAs through a short trailer. Since then, Epic Games has been silent, opting to focus on presenting other projects like the Unreal Engine 4 technology, which received a stunning demo back at E3 2012 last month.

Now, during the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con, Epic Games has re-revealed Fornite, which will be a co-op sandbox survival game with dynamically generated levels. Most importantly, however, is that the game is powered by the all-new Unreal Engine 4 technology, which means it’ll only appear on the PC.

According to Epic Games’ Design Director, Cliff Bleszinski, Lead Artist Pete Ellis, and Producer Tanya Jessen, Fortnite will combine elements from games such as Minecraft, The Walking Dead, or Team Fortress 2 and is composed of three basic mechanics: scavenging, building, and combat.

Scavenging tasks players with exploring the dynamically generated levels and gather up items and materials. These are then used to build fortifications of various shapes and sizes in order to protect against the evil monsters. During the combat stage, players rely on their fortifications to keep the monsters at bay and on their skills to eliminate them as soon as possible.

According to Epic, Fortnite will bring a much needed change in terms of gaming for players but also for its own internal team.

"This is not just a game for people who like shooters or RPGS," said Jessen. "It's a game for everybody."

Bleszinski quickly added that, “It's been really fresh for us. We've had like six years of Gears and we've perfected the art of killing. Fortnite is serving as a fresh change of pace for us."

According to the three developers, Fortnite started off as a gritty experience, much like Epic’s previous Gears of War franchise, but the whole premise became “depressing,” so the decision was made to give the whole game a more upbeat visual style with cartoonish monsters and stunning graphics in order to show off the Unreal Engine 4 technology.

There’s still a lot of work to be done on Fortnite, however, as Epic hasn’t even decided how it’s going to sell it. The studio can release it either traditionally or make it free-to-play and extract profits from microtranscations.

Expect to hear more of Fortnite in the future. Until then, check out some new screenshots of the game below.



Via: Fortnite Is Epic Games First Unreal Engine 4-Powered Title, Arrives Only on PC