Over the years Fortnite’s free-to-play battle royale mode has become renowned for a number of different reasons. While crossovers like Spider-Man and The Rock understandably take up a lot of the headlines, the ways in which Epic Games has often ended each of the game’s seasons are arguably just as exciting and unexpected.
While Fortnite is now entering its reality-flipping third chapter, it’s important to remember that there have actually been 19 distinct seasons at this point. Thanks to world-ending meteors, mech battles, and alien invasions, the game’s battle royale map has often been changed forever as each has drawn to a climactic end.
Fortnite Chapter 1's Early Events
In the early days of Fortnite, the battle royale mode’s seasons tended to end rather unceremoniously compared to what was to come. Both the first and second seasons rolled over into the future for example with no climactic event or story-backed fanfare. Season 3, however, changed things unexpectedly, as a blue light that had been spotted by players revealed itself to be a comet. Upon its fragmented arrival on the island at the end of the season, Dusty Depot was destroyed, and the game’s first faction-based storyline officially started.
Over the course of Fortnite’s heroes and villains-themed fourth season, the meteor was revealed to actually be a transportation pod for a member of The Seven, a faction that’s hellbent on liberating the Zero Point that powers the game’s looping battle royale mode. The group’s first plan to achieve this was put into motion at the end of Season 4, as an ominous timer eventually led to the launch of a rocket. While the projectile’s path was sabotaged by The Imagined Order, a faction that controls the island, the season-ending event led to a number of inter-dimensional rifts opening up across the game.
During Fortnite’s fifth season, the biggest rift opened up to allow a purple cube to crossover from the other side. Dubbed ‘Kevin’ by the game’s community, the sentient entity then ominously marched to Loot Lake. Upon sinking into the water, however, the season ended with little fanfare. Being a member of the Cube Legion, the object’s mission was quickly revealed to be far from over though. After waging zombie-powered war throughout Season 6, Kevin was defeated for good during a final player-controlled assault dubbed The Butterfly Event. Following the live-event players were briefly transported to the In-Between, a dimension that connects reality and is seemingly populated by butterflies, before being unceremoniously returned to an increasingly snow-covered island.
Fortnite Chapter 1's Final Events
While the storyline that had shaped Fortnite‘s beginning wasn’t over, the next handful of seasons focused on a different set of characters. Season 7’s snow-themed antics allowed the Ice King to establish a foothold right up until his winter-wonderland started to melt at its conclusion. This time around there was no climatic event, as Season 8’s volcano-focused motif was instead introduced via a cutscene. Subsequent season-long attempts to silence the fiery mountain eventually led to the Unvaulting Event though, an occurrence that sucked the island’s players back into the In-Between, where The Imagined Order had stored its forgotten items. Tampering with reality in this manner naturally prompted the volcano to erupt, which resulted in map-wide destruction.
Following the end of Season 8, a time-jump was employed that springboarded Fortnite into a technologically advanced future. The season was then dominated by the buildup to a battle between a giant monster, and a Power Rangers-esque Megazord. Season 9 eventually drew to a close as the pair fought during The Final Showdown Event, an epic battle that directly led to the Zero Point being unleashed from its vault. Season X was subsequently dominated by the reality-altering aftermath of this showdown. At its conclusion, The Seven were able to launch a series of meteors though, during an unnamed event, which re-established the regular flow of time. However, the Zero Point was destroyed in the process, which resulted in the creation of a black hole that rendered Fortnite unplayable for a time.
Fortnite Chapter 2’s Early Events
After the darkness finally lifted, Fortnite was forever changed thanks to the creation of a brand new Zero Point and island. Dubbed Chapter 2, Season 1 by Epic, it’s a little surprising that this new beginning ended with no significant event. Instead, the second Season 2 started simply with a cutscene and was defined by an alternate-reality gang war. At its conclusion, The Device Event wreaked havoc with the storm wall that starts and ends each of Fortnite’s battle royale loops. After several days’ worth of altered game lengths, The Imagined Order finally created a wall of water that flooded the game and drew the season to a close.
Season 3’s subsequently watery-themed antics came and went in unceremonious event-free fashion. The conclusion of the Chapter’s second shortest season heralded the arrival of a Marvel-themed extravaganza though, which saw iconic comic book characters join the battle in an attempt to prevent Galactus from seizing the Zero Point. Naturally attempts to prevent the apocalypse failed on this occasion as well and resulted in an epic battle between the cosmic entity and 1 billion powered-up Battle Buses. Following Galactus’ defeat during The Devourer of Worlds Event, a lore-light proceeding season led to another event-free conclusion. Instead, it was established that the Zero Point had been damaged by Galactus, resulting in the cutscene-based introduction of the desert-themed Season 5, and primal-flavored Season 6.
Fortnite Chapter 2's Final Events
After Agent Jones and The Foundation’s failed attempts to stabilize the Zero Point at the start of Season 6, Fortnite once again started to build towards another climactic event. Towards the end of Season 6, several UFO-themed occurrences were observed by players, which heralded the arrival of aliens at the start of Season 7. Several months of extraterrestrial-themed antics eventually brought about the ‘Operation: Sky Fire Event’, which saw players join forces once again with The Imagined Order during a raid on The Last Reality’s UFO mothership. In what proved to be a highly atmospheric sci-fi conclusion to the season, players eventually learned that the Cube creatures from Chapter 1 had been pulling the aliens’ strings all along. After attempting to betray the player in order to take them, the Cubes, and aliens out simultaneously, The Imagined Order instead accidentally freed everyone involved back onto the map, for one final Chapter concluding season.
Throughout Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 8, the Cube Queen-led purple entities once again spread chaos across the game’s battle royale map. Attempts to stop the second invasion resulted in the start of another traditional Fortnite countdown, which ended with the arrival of more UFO motherships and the start of The End Event. Before the ensuing battle could devastate the player-controlled forces, it was revealed that Agent Jones and The Foundation were both alive and had managed to free themselves from The Imagined Order. Amongst all the chaos of the invasion, the pair executed a plan to completely flip the island’s orientation. Even though the Cube Queen and her minions were seemingly destroyed in the process, players were washed out to sea by a giant tsunami before eventually drifting to shore on a completely changed island.
Fortnite is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.