Fortnite: Learn about the battle royale video game sweeping the nation

The most popular video game of the past few months, let’s catch you up on Fortnite; a Battle Royale-style video game all the kids are playing these days.

Even if you don’t actively play video games, it’s hard to escape hearing about Fortnite. It’s a video game that’s exploded in popularity, with more than 45 million players around the world gathering together to fight it out for personal bragging rights.

Toronto Maple Leafs players trash talk each other over it, Joe Jonas wants more friends to play it and Roseanne Barr is bragging about her victories in it; Fortnite has become a sensation.

We’re here to break down exactly what Fortnite is, what to know about it, how to play it and compare to other popular video games of its type. Consider this your primer as we walk you through the most popular video game on the market right now.

What is Fortnite, exactly?

Fortnite is a video game developed by Epic Games, creators of such hits as Gears of War, Unreal Tournament, Paragon and more. It is a free-to-play survival shooter available on the PC, PS4 and Xbox One, currently in Early Access development. That means that the game is constantly being developed by the company, with gameplay, story and design changes happening week to week, month to month and beyond. You can download the game’s launcher for free right here.

When people talk about Fortnite, 99 percent of the time, they’re really talking about the game’s Battle Royale mode. In it, 100 players are flown into a map where they are allowed to skydive down to one of dozens of locations. Armed with only a pickaxe, they must scavenge weapons, resources, healing items and crafting goods lying around while a storm slowly closes in on the map. You must avoid death from the storm and other players trying to kill you to outlive the other 99 players and win the game.

As we continue, we’ll talk about how to win in Fortnite Battle Royale mode.