Fortnite Festival

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Fortnite Festival
Season 1 promotional artwork
Developer(s)Harmonix
Publisher(s)Epic Games
SeriesFortnite
EngineUnreal Engine 5
Platform(s)
ReleaseDecember 9, 2023
Genre(s)Rhythm
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Fortnite Festival is a 2023 rhythm game developed by Harmonix and published by Epic Games.[a] Featuring similar gameplay to the Rock Band series, players perform a song while attempting to get a high score based on their performance. A variety of songs can be chosen from - there is a free selection rotating daily, as well as the opportunity to purchase songs from the Fortnite item shop so that they can still be played when out of rotation. The game was released in December 2023, and can be accessed via the Fortnite launcher. Fortnite Festival received mixed reviews from critics, with criticism toward the price of songs as well as the gameplay.

Gameplay[edit]

Gameplay of Fortnite Festival on expert difficulty

Fortnite Festival is a rhythm video game accessible via the Fortnite launcher.[1] The game features two modes, the "Main Stage" and the "Jam Stage."

On the Main Stage, a group of up to 4 players will choose a selection of available songs, and when playing them attempt to time button inputs correctly to the notes of the chosen song, with the players score and combo multiplier increasing the more inputs one gets correct.[2] The player is able to choose which aspect of the song they want to perform, with the options being between drums, lead (consisting of the main guitar or other instrumental parts of a song, alternating between in-game guitar or keytar for each respectfully), bass, and vocals (in instrumental songs, vocals is used as an alternate lead part for other instruments). The player can also choose one of four difficulty options, ranging from easy to expert.[3][4] While the other difficulties only use four button inputs for notes, the expert difficulty uses five.[3]

After correctly playing specially marked sections of each track, the player is granted "Overdrive", which doubles their current score multiplier. When several band members activate "Overdrive" at the same time, the multipliers will stack to create a larger multiplier, which affects the overall band score but not each player's own score.[2]

In April 2024, an update was released that implemented new "Pro Lead" and "Pro Bass" parts on the Main Stage. These parts make use of compatible guitar controllers, with gameplay much like the Rock Band and Guitar Hero series. Here, players must match and hold down specific fret buttons, and strum the strum bar at the correct time in order to hit notes. In addition, segments of some songs will contain "hammer-on" and "pull-off" notes, where the player may press the corresponding frets without strumming in order to hit them, as long as they maintain a combo. These "Pro" parts feature different note layouts as compared to their non-"Pro" parts, as well as a colour scheme just like the Rock Band and Guitar Hero series.[5] In May 2024, with the release of Battle Royale "Chapter 5 Season 3", an update was released that now allowed players without compatible guitar controllers to play "Pro" tracks using standard gamepad controllers or keyboard and mouse.[6]

In the Jam Stage, players are able to make mashups of several different songs into one, with the tempo and key of each track being adjustable. This works by making use of "Jam Loops" - looped segments of a song's lead, bass, drums or vocals parts, which are available to players who own said song (i.e. having purchased or obtained it) and function similarly to the in-game emote system.[7] These "Jam Loops" may also be used in the Battle Royale mode, in the exact same way and with the same functionality.

A variety of songs are featured in Fortnite Festival, with most of them being composed by artists such as Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar and Weezer, as well as original tracks composed by Harmonix and the Epic Games Sound Team.[7][8] While a rotating selection of daily free songs are provided to the player, the player also has the option to purchase a song with V-Bucks, Fortnite's in-game currency. Each song has a price of 500 V-Bucks, equivalent to $4.50.[4][7] Purchasing a song allows it to be played when out of rotation by the owner and anyone in their game session, as well as giving the owner access to that song's "Jam Loops" - as described previously. Epic Games has also stated that any owned songs may be available as Fortnite lobby tracks in the future. Fortnite Festival also features its own battle pass, known as the Festival Pass, allowing players to unlock additional songs and cosmetics - typically revolving around that season's featured artist.[9] Due to the dynamic approach to the song library, the developers are able to add songs at any time, such as the release of three singles from Billie Eilish's album Hit Me Hard and Soft on the same day as its release in May 2024.[10]

Seasons[edit]

Season Period Featured Artist
Season 1 ("Opening Night") December 2023 – February 2024 The Weeknd[1]
Season 2 ("Unlock Your Talent") February 2024 – April 2024 Lady Gaga[10]
Season 3 April 2024 – June 2024 Billie Eilish[10]

Development and release[edit]

Fortnite Festival was released on December 9, 2023, as part of Epic's goal to expand Fortnite with additional core Experiences, which also included Lego Fortnite and Rocket Racing.[1] Fortnite Festival is developed by Harmonix, the developers of the Rock Band series, as well as the first few Guitar Hero games.[2] According to Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopolous, their goal was to create a free-to-play rhythm game available to the millions of players of Fortnite, with songs freely available in a manner that allowed for dynamic and quick expansion to the in-game library, whilst also being favourable for music publishers in order to aid this.[11] Alongside the Festival Stage and Jam Stage, Harmonix also developed the "Patchwork" system, which could be used within user-made Fortnite Creative experiences or in Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) applications to allow creators to incorporate dynamic music systems into their creations.[11]

Support for plastic guitar controllers was confirmed to already be in progress with the release of Festival.[1] Performance Designed Products (PDP), which previously had supplied instrument controllers for Rock Band 4, announced a new controller for Festival in Janurary 2024, the PDP Riffmaster. This was released in April 2024, and is available in two versions: one compatible for PlayStation consoles, and another for Xbox consoles & PC. Both versions are also compatible with Rock Band 4, featuring the same button layout and basic mechanisms.[12] With the start of Season 3 in late April 2024, Festival was updated to support the Riffmaster and a select few other guitar controllers, along with updating all past and future songs to include unique "Pro Lead" and "Pro Bass" parts that utilize the features of these controllers, similar to Rock Band.[5] A May 2024 update later allowed players without guitar controllers to play these "Pro" tracks using standard controllers or keyboard and mouse.[6] Support for a wider range of controllers is currently being worked on, as of May 2024.

Reception[edit]

Fortnite Festival received generally mixed opinions from critics upon release. IGN's Luke Reilly gave the game a 4/10, criticizing the price of in-game songs, as well as the game not allowing players to see how others were performing, summarizing the gameplay as "isolating."[4] Digital Trends' Giovanni Colantonio and PC Gamer's Mollie Taylor echoed similar thoughts on the price of in-game songs.[3][7] Taylor additionally criticized the gameplay, comparing it to previous games developed by Harmonix and describing it as "awfully barebones."[3] Bailey Dustin of GamesRadar+ pointed out a lack of content as well.[2]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Fortnite Festival is a part of Fortnite as a whole. Most of its cosmetics can also be used outside of Fortnite Festival.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d LeBlanc, Wesley. "Fortnite Festival Season 1 Is Live, Epic Confirms Rock Band Controller Support Coming". Game Informer. Archived from the original on February 19, 2024. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d Bailey, Dustin (December 9, 2023). "Fortnite Festival looks like the future for the Rock Band devs, and that might not be a bad thing". gamesradar. Archived from the original on February 19, 2024. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d Taylor, Mollie (December 18, 2023). "What the hell Harmonix, you definitely could have done something better than Fortnite Festival". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on May 19, 2024. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  4. ^ a b c Reilly, Luke (December 15, 2023). "Fortnite Festival Review". IGN. Archived from the original on February 19, 2024. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  5. ^ a b Lyles, Taylor (April 23, 2024). "Fortnite Festival Finally Adds Support for Rock Band 4 and PDP Riffmaster Guitar Controllers". IGN. Archived from the original on May 16, 2024. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
  6. ^ a b Williams, Hayley (May 24, 2024). "Fortnite Festival Update Lets You Shred Using A Keyboard And Mouse". GameSpot. Retrieved May 24, 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d Colantonio, Giovanni (December 9, 2023). "Fortnite Festival isn't the Rock Band comeback I hoped for". Digital Trends. Archived from the original on February 19, 2024. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  8. ^ Dev, Siddhanth (December 24, 2023). "10 Best Songs In Fortnite Festival". TheGamer. Archived from the original on January 14, 2024. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  9. ^ Webster, Andrew (December 9, 2023). "Fortnite Festival is Rock Band without the plastic instruments". The Verge. Archived from the original on February 20, 2024. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  10. ^ a b c Gutierrez, Luis Joshua (May 17, 2024). "Fortnite Festival Just Did Something It's Never Done Before". GameSpot. Archived from the original on May 17, 2024. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
  11. ^ a b Hester, Blake (December 26, 2023). "The Head Of Harmonix Talks About The Future Of Fortnite, The Metaverse, And Music". Game Informer. Archived from the original on February 25, 2024. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  12. ^ Lyles, Taylor (January 31, 2024). "PDP's New Wireless Guitar Controller Works With Rock Band 4 and, Eventually, Fortnite Festival". IGN. Archived from the original on February 26, 2024. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
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