Late last year, the popular battle royale game “Fortnite” launched its latest refresh with “Chapter 3,” bringing new gameplay mechanics, updated visuals and new weapons and cosmetics. 

The game is continually updated every few months with seasons that feature new content and cosmetics, and the seasons have been broken up into chapters since 2019, when “Fortnite” reached the end of season 10 (dubbed “Season X”). At that time, the game’s map was destroyed during an in-game live event, making way for Chapter 2 with a new map, new cosmetics and new gameplay features. The transition to Chapter 3 was similar, and the new chapter started in a big way, including cross promotion with some of the biggest movies and TV shows of the holiday season, such as “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “The Matrix Resurrections” and “The Book of Boba Fett” via character skins and other cosmetic items. Perhaps the biggest change to the game was the inclusion of varied levels of mobility, bringing both old and new methods of traversal. 

To coincide with the comic book version of “Spider-Man” being one of the season’s mascots, players were able to find web-shooters at various locations, allowing them to zip around the map in an intensely fun acrobatic style. Additionally, players can now slide instead of only running, which can make downhill traversal very quick or can be useful for evading enemies at close range. Some old vehicles were rotated back into the game, and some remained “vaulted,” or unused, but it seems as if each has a chance to be brought back in for future seasons depending on whether they align with the rest of the season’s content. 

The new chapter has also continued the battle royale’s continually sprawling, expansive and sometimes confusing in-game narrative. One of the game’s mysterious protagonists was revealed to be voice acted by and modeled after none other than Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. 

Unfortunately, there has been a noticeable lack in the variety of official gameplay modes made by the game’s developer since Chapter 3 started. 

Still, “Fortnite” continues to be one of the most accessible and family-friendly multiplayer games today, with its sharp, bright visuals, lack of other shooting games’ violence and the hook of its gameplay loop. It also remains free to play and is available on virtually every platform, including most mobile devices.