With Fortnite building removed the battle royale's community is split down the middle

By removing the ability to build, Fortnite has changed the entire complexion of its battles. That's our impression of the change, following some hands-on time with the game this week. As it stands, it's not a permanent fixture, but has instead been rolled out as the showcase feature of Fortnite: Chapter 3 Season 2, which kicked off in earnest on Sunday, March 20. With Fortnite building removed – something that's expected to last around a week or so – "Movement Upgrades" currently stand in its place, applied to elements of sprinting, climbing and sliding, designed to aid players in the heat of conflict. Naturally, the Fortnite community is split right down the middle.

Three-and-a-half years since launch, even the smallest tweaks to Fortnite's blueprint are met with vocal pushback – but the split of opinion among players on this one seems understandable. It may be a temporary measure tied to the main game's overarching story (the ability to build still stands in the game's Arena and Competitive modes), but it's a seismic one in mechanical terms. "Some players are getting used to it quickly because they didn't build much before," says Fortnite specialist and journalist Ben Walker. "But there are others who rely on building, and it's a huge change for them. By removing building, we're also able to fully compare Fortnite to all the other battle royale games, and when you do that, you realise just how much Fortnite's map has been designed with building in mind."

Bricking it

To my disdain, I suffered the latter first-hand when I fell from several stories to my death after getting ambushed on a Tilted Towers rooftop. I'm admittedly far from a seasoned Fortnite builder, but by simply removing a core feature I unwittingly fall back on in certain circumstances – i.e. to gain a quick vantage point in one of the map's most vertical points of interest – I found my mind preoccupied, and thus left myself vulnerable to attack. And it seems I'm not alone in my struggles.

"Fortnite's entire identity, at least when it comes to raw gameplay, derives from its building," Walker adds. "You see a lot of players saying things like: 'this game has been out for three years, if you can't build by now, then you should try a different game.' No matter where you stand with it, though, I think it's really interesting to get that perspective on what Fortnite looks like without its core mechanic. There's fun to be had without building, even after all of these years." 

"It'll also be interesting to see how people deal with it over the course of this no-build period, what they think at the end of it, and what the ratio is like in terms of dividing up the players who want to stay with the no-build mode, compared to those other players begging for it to come back."

With that, and given the fact that Epic removing building from Fortnite has been one of its worst-kept secrets, Walker reckons a fully-fledged no-build mode is likely to surface after this story-driven trial period. To me, the potential longevity of a mould-breaking no-build mode is most interesting, much more so than this pseudo trial period, especially against Walker's thoughts on how Fortnite without building compares to its battle royale rivals in the likes of Warzone, Apex Legends and PUBG Battlegrounds. 

Walker continues: "To me, it seems as though Epic has taken a lot of notes from Warzone over the last few months, especially with the whole Fortnite gold bars and money system stuff. The tactical sprint which has just been added too, that's also from Warzone. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a good thing that they're taking notes from elsewhere because they're also reworking them into Fortnite's own style so that it doesn't feel immediately alien to Fortnite players."

"That said, by removing building, something we're so used to in Fortnite, you can feel your brain struggling at times. It's sometimes hard to comprehend the fact that you can't build to take cover, and that instead you need to take cover like in other battle royale games. This week will definitely be interesting for Fortnite builders!"

New build

And so through all of this, I still can't decide if I love it or hate Fortnite sans building. Not yet, at least. Removing building changes so much about what I understand Fortnite to be, you see, and while I reckon it's great to be kept on my toes, such a big part of what defines Fortnite is now missing, even if only temporarily. Again, I'm no Fortnite building specialist, not by any stretch of the imagination, but it feels almost cruel to have something removed overnight that acted as a safety net before.  

For pro players who still enjoy Fortnite's main battle royale mode, reckons Walker, the next several days will not be very enjoyable. But, on the other hand, those who don't bother with building an inordinate amount have found themselves reinvigorated inside an open-world live-service game that feels fresh and new. 

"No building will continue to affect pros the most, I've seen a lot of pro players and content creators saying that they absolutely hate no-building," says Walker, laughing. "But, I've also seen people who've been playing the game for some time saying they love it, that it feels fresh and that it's given them their second Fortnite wind. These players have been playing for so long that they've maybe begun to get a little bored of it, and this mode has spiced things up, for the time being."

"Ultimately, I think it depends on what you want out of the game. If you excel in building, and that's why you're good at the game, then you're going to struggle a lot with this, obviously. But, equally, if you're good at aiming, and you're good at adapting, then I'm sure you're going to love it."

With or without building, here are some great Fortnite tips for claiming that coveted Victory Royale.