It looks like another Fortnite feature is about ready to return in a new way. Dataminers have discovered what looks to be the return of Rift Zones.
Epic Games has enabled many different off-the-wall features in Fortnite over the years. Some features are more popular than others, but Fortnite's seasonal structure keeps things fresh. This also gives Fortnite the opportunity to bring back certain features, either wholesale or tweaked in a way that Epic thinks will be fun.
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A fixture in the Fortnite leaks scene, Hypex is back with the latest on Fortnite bringing back Rift Zones. The in-universe plan, according to Hypex, is for the alien Mothership that appeared in Chapter 2 Season 7 to use beams to transform certain areas of Fortnite's map into Rift Zones. Hypex does note, however, that they aren't sure which areas the Mothership will be targeting or when, but does say that it'll likely happen one at a time spread out through a match.
Hypex says that Rift Zones will add an effect within the zones, with different Rifts having different impacts. The four effects that Hypex says will be included are low gravity, a limited prop disguise, rift/teleport, and ice slide. He notes that unlike previous prop disguise examples, there will only be seven specific props that players can transform into in these specific Rifts.
Hypex does not that things could change before Epic starts of Rift Zones in Fortnite again. There's a patch coming next week, patch 17.21, that could dramatically alter how the Rift Zones work, what kinds of effects they'll have, or even whether they'll start appearing at all. Suffice to say, don't trust that these will show up in-game until they're there.
Rift Zones have been notably different when they've appeared in the past. For example, in Fortnite's Season 10, not only did they have different effects within their range, but they also transformed the area into a previous version of itself. The Rifts changed time within the area. Hypex does not say whether or not that will happen with these new Rifts, but it's certainly possible.
Overall, it's an interesting decision on Epic's part to bring back a feature without much of a dramatic change. It could imply that Epic simply thinks it's a fun feature that players enjoy, maybe Epic just needed something fun to fill in as it's working on content for other seasons, or perhaps there's more to the Rifts than meets the eye. Expect to find out more about the Fortnite changes soon.
Fortnite is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and mobile devices.