After two days lost in a black hole, Fortnite is back with Chapter 2: Season 1, a fresh start for Epic's massively-popular battle royale. The new Chapter brings watercraft, weapon upgrades, a new map, new skins and even fishing to Fortnite's last-man-standing game-mode.
Fishing in Fortnite functions mostly as a new place for players to search for loot, with a chance to grab various fish, building materials or even a rare weapon. The fish that are currently available to catch are the Small Fry, which heals 25 health, the Flopper, which heals 50, and the Slurpfish which heals 50 health or shield. That might not be all however, as the existence of a fourth fish has now been revealed, the legendary Mythic Goldfish.
The Challenges
The first any player heard of the Mythic Goldfish was a new set of challenges that were recently added to the game. The first of these, titled "No-one will believe you caught this", makes it clear from the outset that the Mythic Goldfish is going to be a rare find in a game of rare finds. To complete the achievement, players need to use Fornite's new fishing rod item to pull the Mythic Goldfish from the depths.
Thanks to the efforts of data-miner HYPEX, we do know that the Goldfish is a throwable weapon which deals a whopping 90 damage on hit. Supporting this are the other two achievements - "Sleep with the fishes", requiring a player to be eliminated by a Mythic Goldfish hit, and "Trophy Hunter", requiring them to eliminate another player with it. Depending on the drop-rate, these Challenges seem like echoes of the Fortnite grind that Chapter 2 was supposed to have done away with.
The Rarest Catch
It may in fact be possible that the Mythic Goldfish is not yet in the game, meaning that, unlike the Open Water Challenges, the Goldfish Challenges are currently impossible to complete. If that's not true, then the spawn rate is so absurdly low that it seems like not one of the truly vast number of Fortnite players have managed to reel one in yet.
Whichever it is, Epic's love of using secrets, easter-eggs and rare unlocks to add depth to a game that would otherwise sorely lack it has proved a winning formula. Despite the dramatic drop in player spending, Chapter 2 breathes some fresh life into the title, and there's never been a better time to grab your gun, fishing rod and glider, and dive into the new world.
Fortnite Chapter 2 is available on mobile devices, PC, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One.