User:NegativeMP1/Fortnite Festival

Fortnite Festival is a 2023 rhythm video game developed by Harmonix and Epic Games and published by Epic Games. 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, with a selection being available for free daily, with an option to purchase the song outright being available as well. 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
Fortnite Festival is a rhythm video game accessible via the Fortnite launcher. The game features two modes, the "main stage" and the "jam stage." On the main stage, a group of players will choose a song and attempt to time button inputs correctly to the notes of the chosen song, with the players score and combo multiplier increasing each input one gets correct. The player is able to choose which aspect of the song they want to perform, with the options being between drums, guitar, bass, and vocals. The player can also choose one of four difficulty options, ranging from easy to expert. While the other difficulties only use four button inputs for notes, the expert difficulty uses five. After correctly playing specially marked sections of each track, the player is granted "overdrive power", which increases their score multiplier further. These multipliers can be stacked with each other if the other players performing the song use them at the same time. In the "jam stage", players are able to combine aspects from several different different songs into one, with the tempo and key of each track being adjustable.

A variety of songs are featured in Fortnite Festival, with most of them being composed by artists such as Lady Gaga and Kendrick Lamar or bands such as Weezer. While a 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. Fortnite Festival also features its own battle pass, known as the Festival Pass, allowing players to unlock additional songs and cosmetics.

Release and reception
Fortnite Festival is developed by Harmonix, the developers of the Rock Band series. Fortnite Festival released on December 9, 2023, as the last new game within Fortnite after the launch of Lego Fortnite and Fortnite Rocket Racing. Season 1 of Fortnite Festival launched two days later, with a Festival Pass featuring a skin based on The Weeknd. Support for video game controllers modeled after instruments is currently being worked on.

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." Digital Trends Giovanni Colantonio and PC Gamers Mollie Taylor echoed similar thoughts on the price of in-game songs. Taylor additionally criticized the gameplay, comparing it to previous games developed by Harmonix and describing it as "awfully barebones." Bailey Dustin of GamesRadar+ pointed out a lack of content as well.