Author: Trafficblast

We’re sure you’re familiar with the Fortnite: Battle Royale phenomenon at this point. We’ve been keeping you up to date on the weekly challenges, the latest updates and changes, and offered some perspective on things we’d like to see added to the game. And although we still enjoy battling it out against 99 other players on the game’s current map, it’s easy to imagine how a new map could keep us coming back for more Victory Royales in the long run.

There is currently one map in Fortnite: Battle Royale, but to Epic Games’ credit, it has evolved over time. With new seasons comes new content and actual changes to the lone map’s layout and features. When Season 4 hit, so did a comet that destroyed Dusty Depot to create a new area called Dusty Divot, which fed into the superhero theme the game was going for. Now with Season 5 on the horizon (starting July 12), we started to think about how Fortnite’s world is going to evolve further given the recent appearance of mysterious tears in the sky. Could they lead to a new map, and if so, what might that look like?

For the latest on Fortnite, be sure to read through our stories on the new Playground mode and when it’ll be going away, Epic’s user-made short-film competition, or how the latest patch changes up the game. Week 10 of Season 4 tasked players with a slew of new challenges, like the search between movie titles, which we have a complete guide for.

A Snow Map Where You Need Warmth

In creating a new map, Epic could take the approach of releasing something that isn’t meant to be much more than a simple alternative to the existing island, offering a different look and feel but not much else. Alternatively, it could release something that is much more specialized, with its own custom set of rules, almost like a new playlist that happens to have a map that is catered specifically to it.

One such possibility: a winter map where snow has a real impact on gameplay. A snow-covered map would make distant enemies easier to see, making long-range weapons more valuable. But snow could periodically fall during the match, reducing visibility and thus emphasizing close-range combat for a period of time.

Movement speed could be impacted by the amount of snow you’re walking through, but what’s even more intriguing is the prospect of needing to keep yourself warm. Similar to Company of Heroes 2, which requires you to garrison units or get them near a fire periodically, Battle Royale’s gameplay could really be shaken up if you also had to account for your body’s temperature. If you’re cold, do you risk suffering damage to grab that desirable weapon in the distance, or do you find a place to warm up first?

So many new wrinkles would make for a technical challenge, but a new map that impacts gameplay in so many ways would be a great way to show how meaningful new locales are going to be in Fortnite.

Flat Terrain Map With Max Resources

Admittedly, this sounds a lot like an experimental limited-time mode, but a map that’s essentially a flat, wide-open field could be a ton of fun. Here, players would have to put their building skills to the ultimate test. Matches would probably boil down to a build-your-own map type of game, where things would play out in even more unpredictable fashion than they already do. We imagine players would have to do more than just protect themselves; with the storm closing in and not much in the way of natural defenses, creativity would be pushed and building structures with mobility in mind would change the way Fortnite is traditionally played.

To make this work, you’d probably have to start players with maximum (or unlimited) resources so everyone can get to building as soon as they land. Weapon scavenging might be tricky to implement in this type of map, but maybe weapons stashes can act as hot dropzones for players to start building out from. This type of map can highlight one of Fortnite’s strengths and the feature that has helped distinguish itself from other battle royale games in the first place.

A Volcano Map

What really sets Fortnite apart from other battle royale games are building mechanics, and while they are used in fast combat situations, it could be really cool to require them during the running phase of a match to overcome obstacles. A giant volcano map with peaks, chasms, and lava tubes would add another layer of thinking and movement. A volcano map could also vary the distances at which players fight in the final circle. Maybe there’d be close-range final circles in caves, long-range final circles over a giant magma chamber, hilltop-to-hilltop fights similar to those that take place now, and possibly small island battles in the water around the base of the map.

Epic has been really good so far at planned events, such as the recent rocket launch, but why not take this one step further with random events? Matches a lava tube could be open, then next flooded, or one match the lava chamber is empty and cavernous while the next it’s overflowing onto the rest of the map. With dimensional rifts opening up, the possibilities for random events are endless. The volcano map could even take place during different eras– dinosaurs, anyone?

A Land Filled With Stuff From Other Worlds

Fortnite’s island has variety, as you’ve got everything from swamps to suburban towns to junkyards to (more recently) a giant crater with some kind of scientific base built inside of it. But it all generally makes sense and seems like it fits in the same general area.

With Season 4’s rifts causing objects to disappear, it would be fun to see that serve a purpose. What if these rifts are not just on the Battle Royale island, but all over the world–or even different dimensions? Rather than having these things blink out of existence, maybe these rifts are instead transporting them elsewhere. That elsewhere could be the setting for a new map.

It might be a bit extreme as the concept for what would only be Battle Royale’s second map, but it would be great to eventually see a location full of weird juxtapositions. A jumbo jet inside of a gym? Sure. Alien plants that attack you lined outside of a toy store? Why not! Fortnite already embraces silliness, and this would allow Epic to truly go all-out with a map that’s unlike anything else in the battle royale space. It would also feature a perfect, built-in excuse to continue updating the map with new elements as more things are teleported in and out.

Fighting In A Post-Apocalypse

Epic has the flexibility to take Fortnite in almost any direction it wants to, thematically. And given the premise of the original Save The World mode–defending yourselves from the undead and mutated monsters–going with a post-apocalyptic theme for a new map is well within the realm of possibility. This would be more than just a cosmetic overhaul, too. It’d be interesting to see how radiation zones could factor into matches; clever ways to build around dangerous areas on top of avoiding enemies and the deadly storm might spice things up a bit. Maybe irradiated zones can be randomized just like the storm to ramp up the tension even more. Geiger counters going off when you least expect it while thinking you’re building into a safe zone could make for a real curveball.

A post-apocalyptic map may serve as the impetus to bring in new weapons as well. A nuke launcher could be wildly devastating, but highly sought out by players. We’d be hesitant to ask for hostile hordes as a factor when it comes to a battle royale match, but it’s an aspect that could be cleverly implemented in this specific type of map.

The Purge franchise is making massive bank. Not including the new film that came out on July 4, the films have made over $300 million against a budget of under $40 million.

The First Purge looks to continue this trend. And if you’re among the many who enjoy the franchise–as the box office returns clearly indicate–check out these similar films. Many are exploitative and crass. Most take a satirical approach to human violence. Others explore fear and personal choice. And all of them feature deranged, giddy psychopaths.

Here are 10 other movies that fans of The Purge need to watch. And if you liked this gallery, check out 15 Fun and Patriotic Movies and 30 Twisted and Sick Horror Movies as well.

Ant-Man and The Wasp is now in theaters, and while it is a Marvel superhero film, the movie is filled with moments of people and things growing to immense sizes and shrinking to the size of bugs. However, it’s not the only movie featuring this sci-fi trope, which feels very at home during the 1950’s science fiction craze. And while this theme isn’t new at all, it is predominantly featured in quite a few films over the past 60 years.

From Disney’s Alice shrinking in order to get into inside a door to Wayne Szalinski ruining his life by using his shrinking/growing machine, there are actually some solid movies about this concept–as well as a few mediocre ones. So we decided to take a quick look at some other movies featuring people growing and shrinking in size for you to check out before or after you see Ant-Man and The Wasp.

In our review of Ant-Man and the Wasp, GameSpot’s Mike Rougeau said, “Ant-Man and the Wasp is hilarious, fun, silly, self aware, and creative. Filled with pseudo-science gobbledigook, crazy action, and multiple villains all vying for screen time, it’s one of the most comic-booky MCU movies yet. The fates of all our favorite heroes after Avengers: Infinity War may still be up in the air, but in the meantime, Ant-Man and the Wasp is a welcome distraction.”

For more on Ant-Man and The Wasp, learn about the mid and post-credit scenes, the history of the character in the comics, and why the movie is set before Infinity War. Otherwise, check out these other movies about getting large or going small.

If you’ve fallen in love with the Yakuza series via Yakuza 0 or Kiwami, or have been with the franchise for years, you’ll most certainly want to get your hands on the Yakuza Kiwami 2 demo that is now available on PlayStation Network. This is the remake of the PS2 game Yakuza 2 that released in the West back in 2008; it’s been reimagined using the Dragon Engine which powered Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. Kiwami 2 has been out in Japan since last December, but the localized version is set to hit shelves worldwide on August 28 for PS4.

The demo itself, which you can download here, starts you out on Chapter Two of the story as Kiryu explores Sotenbori (a fictionalized version of Dotenbori in Osaka) on a search for the Dragon of Kansai, Ryuji Goda. Kiryu still remains loyal to the Tojo Clan despite getting out of the business, and he seeks to protect them from the rival Omi Alliance that had a shake-up in leadership at the hand of Goda. The story runs deeper as Kiryu starts to unravel the shady operations of his enemies with the help of the detective Kaoru Sayama. Gripping drama with moments of comical absurdity are core to the franchise and Yakuza 2 delivers.

Kiryu has a heart of gold, but you wouldn’t want to wrong him or his friends.

In the full game, you can play through a brand new campaign centered around fan-favorite character Goro Majima. While he plays a pivotal role in the original story of Yakuza 2, we’ll get a closer look on into his life between the first two games in what’s called The Truth of Goro Majima. Sure, he rocks that sweet hardhat while running his own construction company, but you’ll find out more about how he got there.

This demo does not contain the full game despite Sega’s previous mishap with Yakuza 6. You can read more about Yakuza Kiwami 2’s features here. If you’re curious about what makes this series great, we at GameSpot had an extensive discussion about why you should play the entire Yakuza series. Remasters of the third, fourth, and fifth games are currently in the works for Japan, and while no official word was given for Western releases, they are likely given that the original games were localized.