On September 18, Epic Games launched the fourth season of Chapter 3 of Fortnite. The new season, titled Paradise, features a mysterious substance called Chrome that is taking over the island. Season 4 will take fans all the way up to December 3, just in time for Fortnite to get its yearly winter-themed overhaul. Of course, a new season also means a new Battle Pass.
First introduced in the second season of Chapter 1, the Battle Pass completely changed the Fortnite rewards system. While the game is free-to-play, the Battle Pass allowed Epic to still get some money out of players who didn’t want to spend it at the item shop, instead giving them the opportunity to unlock better rewards the more they played. Epic has always gone out of their way to put some highly valued skins and emotes in the Battle Pass, but this season it seems to have dropped the ball.
Best Rewards on This Season’s Battle Pass
While the options are definitely lighter this season, there are still a few great options for Fortnite players who purchased the Battle Pass. There are the typical 100 V-Bucks rewards scattered throughout the Pass’ pages that can be acquired for five Battle Stars. There are also a few unique emoticons and loading screens that can be unlocked.
However, the Battle Pass’ biggest appeal has always been the skins. On the very first page, Fortnite fans can unlock Paradigm, one of the game’s running protagonists who is based on and voiced by Brie Larson. In later pages, players can also acquire different styles for Paradigm.
The other sought-after Fortnite skin is Spider-Gwen, the very last reward on the Battle Pass. The character is based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. The comic takes place in an alternate Spider-Man universe where Peter Parker’s love interest Gwen Stacy was bitten by the radioactive spider, rather than Peter. Fortnite always has a skin for players to work toward at the end of their Battle Pass, and this season will be no different.
Fortnite Needs to Do Better
Despite the few highly sought-after rewards, the rest of the unlockables for the fourth season of Chapter 3 leave a lot to be desired. Spider-Gwen and Paradigm are the only two that stand out against the pack, with the rest falling significantly short. The rest of the skins are either obscure characters from other IPs or original Fortnite creations. While some original skins like Meow Skulls can create new fan bases, those not immersed in Fortnite lore may find themselves let down.
On top of the lack of desirable skins, Fortnite has left out any high-level emotes from this season’s Battle Pass. There are two emotes specific to the Chrome storyline in this season, one Marvel Series emote, and two other emotes with Uncommon rarity. The options are both sparse and unremarkable.
The Battle Pass system, in general, is a tricky balance to master. Epic wants to reward players who buy it each season, but not give them so much that gamers stop spending money in the Item Shop. However, it seems that Epic made the decision to remove the mid-level rewards that players earn on their way to unlocking the rarer skins and emotes.
The appeal of Fortnite has always been its free-to-play nature. Fans can constantly upgrade cosmetics, but there’s nothing players can buy or unlock that will give them a competitive advantage, which is a rarity in the video game world. However, a vast majority of players still buy the Battle Pass every season. If Epic wants to keep that loyal customer base, it will need to start offering players more value.
Fortnite is free-to-play on Mobile, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.