‘Fortnite’ Celebrates First Birthday With Update, New Challenges

By Liz Lanier

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – “Fortnite” was down early Tuesday morning for an update which brings bug fixes, new weapons, and new enemies to take on.

The downtime started at 4 a.m. EST, according to the official Twitter account , and “Fortnite” is now back online with gameplay changes, such as walls having increased starting/max health and adjustments to the Storm Circle Safezone wait times.

The new Compact SMG was added, which is available in Epic and Legendary variants and “uses light ammo, [has] 50 round capacity, and can be found from floor loot, chests, Supply Drops, and Vending Machines,” according to the patch notes from Epic .

Slurp Juice also has some changes— it now gives 1 health every half second, up to 75. Once health is full, it adds to the player’s shield.

The popular battle royale game is also celebrating a special milestone a little early, as the first birthday of “Fortnite” is Wednesday. The Mode now has pieces of birthday cake scattered around the map which give players 5 health and 5 shield upon consumption. Also, players that complete three birthday challenges will unlock a “new emote, spray, and Backbling.”

There will be a “” first birthday questline for players as well, which players can complete to unlock Birthday Brigade Ramirez. The aforementioned birthday cake can also be collected to earn event tickets which can be exchanged for the Birthday Llama.

Among the big fixes, a few are cosmetic such as emotes and weapons displaying correctly now. Other bug fixes include bullets and projectile weapons no longer being blocked by invisible barriers, and players no longer falling through floors while placing or fixing structures.

The bug fixes will hopefully be helpful for players taking on enemies, including the new Zapper Husk, which Epic describes as between the “Pitcher and the Blaster in difficulty.”

Some changes have also been made to the mobile version of “Fortnite,” including a bug fix which ensures “audible pops will no longer occur on iOS during loading screens and gameplay.” You ca find the full details on the patch on Epic’s website .

Epic Games also revealed that they will be bringing back the popular Playground Mode , a low-pressure match in which teammates can freely build and train together, on Wednesday for a limited time.