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Fortnite season 8 arrives with pirates, a volcano, and two new locations

Fortnite season 8 arrives with pirates, a volcano, and two new locations

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The eighth season of Fortnite has arrived to the sound of an erupting volcano.

The biggest change is the addition of two new locations that have formed in the aftermath — Lazy Lagoon and Sunny Steps — which can be found in the northeast of the island, around the volcano that sprouted where Wailing Woods used to be. There’s now lava to look out for, and volcanic vents that will give you a boost into the air. The snowy portion of the island that formed in season 7, meanwhile, is still in place leading to the most diverse iteration of the Fortnite island yet.

This season has a pirate and adventure theme, which means not only the changes to the map itself, but also a new pirate cannon weapon. Meanwhile, a number of prominent elements have been eliminated from the game: planes, ATKs, shopping carts, chiller grenades, and sneaky snowman disguises are all gone from Fortnite starting today. You can check out the complete patch notes here.

A new season also means a new battle pass, and this time it includes a number of pirate themed goodies: new skins and gliders, adventurous theme music, and, for some reason, a dog carved out of wood. Most importantly, there’s a terrifying new banana skin called Peely. As per usual, there are a total of 100 rewards to unlock through the battle pass, and it’ll be available for the next 69 days.

We’ve known that season 8 was on the way for some time, of course, and Epic has been steadily teasing big changes both on social media and in the game itself. The developer has been tweeting what looked to be pirate themed art all week, and earlier this month the Fortnite island was rocked by a steady stream of earthquakes, suggesting some shifts in the world itself. Epic even held a Reddit AMA where it broke the news that planes — which were introduced as part of season 7 — would be going away.

The new slate of Fortnite content comes after a fairly busy season 7 for the game. Since early December the battle royale has featured a Minecraft-like creative mode, a location on the island for highlighting player creations, drama over the addition of overpowered swords, futuristic hoverboards, as well as several prominent events including a massive snowstorm and an in-game concert featuring Marshmello. During the same period, Epic launched its own PC games store, continued to deal with emote-related lawsuits, further detailed plans for the Fortnite World Cup, and faced a new competitor with Respawn’s Apex Legends. Whew.

With all the new changes in place, season 8 will likely be just as busy. Keep an eye out for treasure.