- Fortnite Season 5 launched Thursday, to the delight of millions of players.
- The new season brings tons of additions and changes to the game, including a new vehicle, tons of cool skins, and even a new game mechanic.
- But the most noticeable differences this season are the changes to the island, where every match takes place.
“Fortnite: Battle Royale’s” Season 5 is finally here, with a ton of new cosmetics, challenges, and even a new vehicle.
However, if you open up Fortnite right now, the first things you’ll notice are the changes and additions to the game’s map. The rifts have brought landmarks from entirely separate time periods, and even new biomes, to the island, and players are still uncovering all the latest additions.
Here are all the new points of interest and other changes to the island:
Upon dropping in to your first match in Season 5, you’ll immediately notice that the map has undergone a few big changes.
The most notable — and obvious — change is the introduction of an entirely new biome to the island: desert.
As many dataminers had predicted, the Season 5 map features a large swatch of desert landscape where Moisty Mire used to be.
In its place we now have Paradise Palms, a sandy resort area complete with cactuses, tumbleweeds, and lots of palm trees.
It's likely that Paradise Palms is at least somewhat inspired by the tourist destination Palm Springs, California, especially given Epic Game's recent decision to plant a real-life replica of the Durr Burger in the California desert last week.
Lazy Links has officially replaced Anarchy Acres in the Northern section of the map.
This point of interest will likely be a hub for finding the new driveable golf carts, because it features a large golf course where players can actually tee up!
What appears to be a viking ship and surrounding houses now sit atop the mountain between Snobby Shores and Greasy Grove.
The area was hinted at earlier this week when a large anchor was spotted on the hillside, no doubt dropped there by a rift.
https://twitter.com/Kai_Peterson_/status/1015345307884949504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
This area is especially exciting for the game because the mountain top is covered in snow, another biome the game has never seen before.
A few of the map's old points of interest have also received substantial updates. Dusty Divot, for instance, is looking much more lush than it did yesterday.
The area surrounding the tents that were erected to study the meteorite at the beginning of Season 4 is now overrun with trees, grass, and ponds - a far cry from the desolate crater we knew and loved just a few days ago.
The Durr Burger has been spotted back on the island, returned safely from the real-life California desert.
Fortnite Insider, a dedicated fan blog, even captured a video of the statue, which now sits on a hilltop to the Northeast of Pleasant Park:
In case you missed the news from earlier this week, when the Durr Burger and other in-game objects were popping up in the real world - no doubt thanks to the rifts - here's the evidence:
What.... is this... I’m in the middle of the desert why is this here??? pic.twitter.com/oTMiGc0Wno
— Sela Shiloni (@selashiloni) July 6, 2018
In the next few days players will undoubtedly discover more new areas on the map and Easter eggs that go along with them, so we'll be updating this slideshow as more locations are explored.
In the meantime, check out the official trailer for Season 5: