Fortnite Season 5 has hit the scene to bring us deserts, golf carts, and shotgun tweaks

The wait is finally over. Fortnite Season 5 is here and with it comes rifts, sand, and golf carts that double as jump pads. And, of course, new skins. We’re going to be going through a bunch of stuff, so grab a Slurp Juice and enjoy.

After an interesting end to Season 4 that had players finding Fortnite items in real life and watching rockets and cracks cover the sky in-game, we can now put to bed the countless rumors and play the game for ourselves. The biggest change, obviously, is the map.

New areas in Fortnite Season 5

Moisty Mire has left us and much of the bottom right portion of the map has been replaced with sand and a new city, Paradise Palms. Featuring a mess of loot and towering rock formations all around, the new area is a nice change of pace from all the green grass and rolling hills. We also have a new area up north, where Anarchy Acres used to be. It is now called Lazy Links, and you guessed it, it’s a golf course.

Image: Josiah Motley / KnowTechie

Golf cart mayhem

Season 4 gave us a taste of what mobility could look like with the shopping cart, but it was generally met with mixed reaction. Epic Games is upping the stakes with Season 5 by introducing All Terrain Karts (ATKs) to the game. Holding up to four people, the glorified golf cart features boost features when drifting and rewards drivers for lean collaboration with teammates (if the players in the backseat lean back at the right time, you’ll get more air).

Oh, and the roof is a bounce pad. Can’t wait to see Ninja or Dr. Lupo hit some mean trickshots off one of them.

Image: Epic Games

Don’t forget the Rifts

After the rocket launched in Season 4, players began seeing Rifts opening up around the world, normally transporting surrounding game items into the unknown. Now, those rifts can be used to get out of sticky situations. Players can run through a rift and be teleported to an accompanying area located in the same area but in the sky.

Updates to the mechanics

If you’ve ever played Fortnite, you know how annoying the shotguns can be. They really can be the difference between surviving a fight or not, especially early game. But, you also know how unreliable they could be. Epic is addressing that, now offering uniform pellet spread to help with consistency, as well as showing how many pellets actually connected with your target. There has also been a slight nerf to how double pump and shotguns work, with a forced shot delay now present across both pumps and tac shotguns.

Image: Epic Games

Hunting rifles have also seen a minor tweak, now offering the same aim assist as seen with other sniper rifles.

Not gun related, but now the popular Streamer Mode will give more information than simply Player####. Instead, we’ll see a description of the skin, plus a random number. For example, “Eliminated Rust Lord[465].”

(Sky)Dive into Fortnite Season 5

After some hours of play this morning, much of Fortnite is still the same ole game. Jump, land, gather, shoot, repeat. But even so, Epic continues to give players more reasons to come back, with this new season being no exception.

What is your favorite part of Season 5? Let us know in the comments.

For more gaming news and opinions, see:

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Josiah Motley

Former KnowTechie editor.