Situated in the middle of Fortntie’s bustling Island, Titled Towers enjoys a number of key benefits for interested corporations and consumers. Just a stone's throw from the affluent houses in Snobby Shores, its high-rise buildings offer luxurious real estate to local businesses, while its excellent transport links to the island's other suburbs make it the go-to destination for shoppers. But there’s one unimportant looking building on the main street that’s become one of the most talked about landmarks in Fortnite.
This is the story of the unluckiest building on Fortnite's idyllic island location. It's a tale of terror and redemption, and... okay, it isn't any of those things. It's a story about a building that Fortnite developer Epic clearly loves to hate.
Destruction begins
Standing all-but vacant for weeks following its initial construction in September of 2017, it was originally occupied by an apartment store (trying to establish itself amongst the big players like fast-food giant Noms). But on May 4th 2018 the building was hit by a giant meteor, in what would be the first in a series of events that would seal the fate of any business attempting to set up shop there.
The clean up operation lasted for weeks. Dump trucks were regularly seen in the busy streets surrounding the building, all as a wrecking ball knocked down the remains of the tower block. The crater left by the meteor's impact was filled with tons of concrete to establish foundations for a new development.
In the following months, a new building rose from the rubble and on September 6th – keen to capitalise on the renewed interest denizens of the island had in golf, thanks to the arrival of Lazy Links to the North – a sports shop was set up inside the new structure. The flagship store had everything. Fishing equipment, canoes, golf clubs, t-shirts, free parking, even customer toilets! Yeah, I know – what more could a Battle Royale tourist possibly be looking for! Any shop that provides patrons with the luxury of a porcelain throne deserves success, right?
And boy did the toilets deliver, with a record number of visitors stepping inside the new building in its opening week. Sure, there were a few isolated reports of vandalism, and the balloons proudly displayed outside of the store by the new owners had to be replaced every hour, on the hour, but that was nothing compared to what was about to come.
Kevin arrives
Just one week after its doors opened, a huge supernatural cube shows up on the island. All fun and games, right? The locals nicknamed the cube ‘Kevin’ and everybody was having a great time. A great time, that is, until it started rolling through Tilted Towers down main street. It slowly started to look like this may indeed be yet another bad time.
Because, while it at first it looked like Kevin was going to trundle through the city leaving all of the buildings intact, it then, seemingly and intentionally, diverted from its natural path and smashed through the newly opened shop before returning to the main road and continuing to Loot Lake where it would end its journey. The sports shop was destroyed, and with it any hope of a resurgence of interest in golf across the island. Which is good, because golf it boring and why would I even want to go visit Lazy Links anyway?
Now being built for a third time, the building was starting to get a bit of a reputation. In spite of the lot's cursed past, an offer came in from a local news studio. It wasn’t until the 18th of October that work started at the site again, but it was slow going. It’s still not clear whether some of the construction workers refused to step foot on the site due to its destructive past, or if the thought of putting a giant satellite dish on the roof overly complicated things, but it took a little over three months before the news studio was operational. It was a rushed job but it was there, and that has to count for something.
Despite housing three studios (with one dedicated to their daily cooking show), an editing suite and office space for the entire company, many of the stairwells were incomplete. Some rooms had dangerous, people sized holes in the floor and, in what can only be described as a crime of the highest order, pictures weren't hung level. Battle Royale or not, have some damned standards, people!
Never become the story
While the general state of disrepair inside of the building was a concern, it was the lead news on February 5th that really raised a few eyebrows. Tremors started to register around the island and questions were being asked about the stability of the very building reporting the news of the upcoming earthquake.
Unfortunately, those questions were answered just three weeks later when, on February 27th 2019, a huge crack ripped through Tilted Towers destroying the news studio and little else around it. What is it about this building that just seems to invite destruction? I fear we may never know the answer.
After being hit by almost every natural disaster known to man, the building site was now presumably uninsurable. It’s fitting then that ‘No Sweat Insurance’ – the Island’s leading insurance suppliers – managed to get a new office built on the lot and relocate its staff to the location just 4 weeks later.
Fully aware of the irony of what they’d done, ‘No Sweat’ turned the ground floor into a museum. Proudly displaying cardboard cutouts of meteors and ‘Kevin the cube’ – past events which had destroyed the previous buildings on the site. There was however another cut-out in the same display... a volcano.
Then the volcano showed up
Sure enough, on May the 4th 2019 the volcano erupted (oh, that’s right, there’s now a volcano on the Island. Look, it just appeared; nobody knows why it's there, how it came to be, and to be perfectly honest with you I don’t know enough about the arrangement of tectonic plates around the island to try and explain it. These things just happen sometimes, okay?
Giant boulders were being thrown across the island. One landed in the suburban shopping district of Retail Row but Tilted Towers got hit hardest, because of course it did. Four flaming rocks hit the city, engulfing it in flames and smoke. But, like some kind of phoenix, one building was left standing. Visitors still dropped by to inspect the site and pick up items scattered by the impact, but their numbers aren’t what they used to be. The uninsurable building may have survived the fallout, but standing alone in an area surrounded by ruin might just be the unluckiest fate of all.
Today, what feels like decades after the first bricks were laid, the building is nestled amongst a cityscape of neon buildings, advertising blimps and slipstreams. Despite its past, 'No Sweat' continues to thrive, its sign still proudly displayed out front even as the area continues to hastily redevelop around it. I'd like to tell you that this is a happy ending for Fortnite's unluckiest building but, given it’s history, it surely won't be long until disaster strikes again.
