‘Tis season 7 with Fortnite winter wonderland updates: Everything new

Fortnite season 7 is here and it brought with it a winter wonderland. Here is a summary of everything new.

Winter is here. The minute you sign on and finish updating, you’ll notice the wintery themed loading screen, battle pass and map. It’s everything we asked Santa for this Fortnite holiday and it’s going to be a game-changer.

Season 7 is going to be one of the most fun seasons of Fortnite we’ve ever seen. Epic Games gets into the holidays with skins, challenges, etc. so expect to see more and more as this season progresses.

The most notable changes come from the map. You’ll notice immediately that the entire southwest corner of the map has been changed completely. The sheer size of the map has increased by a significant amount. Let’s start there.

Map changes

Map size: The map is much bigger today than it was yesterday. Not only was the southwest corner changed, but the map itself was expanded. Barring any kind of Fortnite climate change issues, it looks as though we’ll have more room to play with moving forward.

Greasy Grove and Flush Factory: Epic has been known to change or alter locations for new seasons and this one was no different. Say goodbye to Greasy Grove (sad) and Flush Factory (not so sad) for the winter wonderland that has replaced them. Greasy Grove and Flush Factory are the third and fourth original map locations to be removed from the game (Moisty Mire, Anarchy Acres). However, some remnants of Greasy Grove are still in the game, buried in snow. See if you can find them.

New locations: Out with the old, in with the new! Epic Games has added three new named locations to the snowy section of the map: Polar Peak, Happy Hamlet and Frosty Flights. Frosty is going to be heavily visited in the early goings as it features the newest form of Fortnite transportation: Airplanes.

Airplanes

The X-4 Stormwing Plane is going to be a game-changing vehicle. Transportation in Fortnite has changed more than any other aspect of the game since day one and this is another massive leap forward in that regard.

https://twitter.com/Hispanicti7anic/status/1070653066901417986

The X-4’s can be found at the Frosty Flights airport. They feature room for five (presumably for use in LTMs), have a boost similar to that of the quadcrasher and are equipped with a mounted turret that will overheat.

The planes can barrel roll, air brake and fly upside down (by pressing both bumpers). It’s also worth noting that redeploy is in play when flying, meaning you can skydive from the airplanes.

Vaulted weapons

A number of (mostly useless) weapons and items have been vaulted at the start of season 7. Chances are Epic was seeing a decline in the use/need for the following items. You won’t miss any of these:

• Port-a-fort
• Shadow stones
• Chiller trap
• Clinger
• Double barrel shotgun
• Shockwave grenade

Battle Pass

The season 7 battle pass is full of new skins, dances and other goodies. There are a great mix of holiday-themed, goofy and awesome looking skins to collect through the next few months. Here’s a complete look at the battle pass:

Epic Games is sure to feature a ton of new and old holiday themed skins this season as well, much like they did for Halloween. Be sure to check the item shop daily if you don’t mind spending a few V-bucks for cool cosmetics.

Fortnite Creative

Think back to the “build your own park” days from Tony Hawk Pro Skater. Fortnite creative is a new game mode in which you can create your own map. This is a huge step up from playground mode as players can now customize the map entirely, including locations and items.

We’re going to see fun games, hilarious videos and extremely creative concepts out of this so be sure to try it out, get the hang of it and have some fun in the new creative mode.

Other changes

Balloons: Balloons make sense now. Epic has reworked the balloons so that they now attach to your back instead of being held in your hand, allowing you to also use weapons while using them. This makes balloons relevant again.

Weapon wraps: A minor change, but one many gamers were hoping for. Weapon wraps will now be available to be unlocked through the battle pass. Players can choose which wraps they want for each style of weapon.

Ziplines: Certain mountainous areas in the new ice biome will feature ziplines. The ziplines can be used to clip on and get from point a to point b. This isn’t a huge change, but a fun way to travel parts of the new map without wasting materials going up and down mountains.

Here are the full patch notes from update v7.00.

Overall, these are some massive changes to bring in a new season of Fortnite. Season 7 is going to be the best season yet and likely include the most holiday gear we’ve seen to date. Be sure to keep up with the battle pass and any other news and info on FanSided’s gaming page.

Enjoy Fortnite‘s winter holiday season!