Fortnite Festival
Fortnite Festival | |
---|---|
multiplayer |
Fortnite Festival is a 2023 rhythm game developed by Harmonix and published by Epic Games. Featuring similar gameplay to the Rock Band series, players perform a song while attempting to get a high score based on their performance. A variety of songs can be chosen from, with a selection being available for free daily, with an option to purchase the song outright being available as well. The game was released in December 2023, and can be accessed via the Fortnite launcher. Fortnite Festival received mixed reviews from critics, with criticism toward the price of songs as well as the gameplay.
Gameplay
Fortnite Festival is a
A variety of songs are featured in Fortnite Festival, with most of them being composed by well known artists such as
Seasons
Season | Period | Featured Artist |
---|---|---|
Season 1 ("Opening Night") | December 2023 โ February 2024 | The Weeknd |
Season 2 ("Unlock Your Talent") | February 2024 โ April 2024 | Lady Gaga |
Season 3 | April 2024 โ June 2024 | Billie Eilish |
Development and release
Fortnite Festival was released on December 9, 2023, as part of Epic's goal expand Fortnite with additional Experiences, which included Lego Fortnite and Rocket Racing.[1] Fortnite Festival is developed by Harmonix, the developers of the Rock Band series.[2] According to Harmonix' CEO Alex Rigopolous, their goal was to create a free-to-play music game available to the millions of players of Fortnite. To achieve this, they developed the means to have the full library of songs available in game freely available in a manner that was favorable to music publishers to build out the music library quickly.[8] Alongside the Festival Stage and Jam Stage, Harmonix also developed tools called the Patchwork system that could be used within the Fortnite Creative modes or in other Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) applications to allow creators to incorporate dynamic music systems into their creations.[8]
Support for video game controllers modeled after instruments is currently being worked on.[1] Performance Designed Products (PDP), which previously had supplied instrument controllers for Rock Band 4, announced a new controller, the PDP Riffmaster, to be released in April 2024. The Riffmaster will have two versions, one compatible for the PlayStation, and another for the Xbox consoles. Both versions will be compatible with previous rhythm games like Rock Band as well as Fortnite Festival.[9] With the start of Season 3 in late April 2024, Festival was updated to support the Riffmaster and selected other instrument controllers, along with updating all past and future songs to include support for lead and bass parts that utilize the features of these controllers, including hammer-on and pull-offs similar to Rock Band.[10]
Reception
Fortnite Festival received generally mixed opinions from critics upon release. IGN's Luke Reilly gave the game a 4/10, criticizing the price of in-game songs, as well as the game not allowing players to see how others were performing, summarizing the gameplay as "isolating."[4] Digital Trends' Giovanni Colantonio and PC Gamer's Mollie Taylor echoed similar thoughts on the price of in-game songs.[3][5] Taylor additionally criticized the gameplay, comparing it to previous games developed by Harmonix and describing it as "awfully barebones."[3] Bailey Dustin of GamesRadar+ pointed out a lack of content as well.[2]
References
- ^ a b c LeBlanc, Wesley. "Fortnite Festival Season 1 Is Live, Epic Confirms Rock Band Controller Support Coming". Game Informer. Retrieved 2024-02-19.
- ^ a b c d Bailey, Dustin (2023-12-09). "Fortnite Festival looks like the future for the Rock Band devs, and that might not be a bad thing". gamesradar. Retrieved 2024-02-19.
- ^ a b c d Taylor, Mollie (2023-12-18). "What the hell Harmonix, you definitely could have done something better than Fortnite Festival". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2024-02-19.
- ^ a b c Reilly, Luke (2023-12-15). "Fortnite Festival Review". IGN. Retrieved 2024-02-19.
- ^ a b c d "Fortnite Festival isn't the Rock Band comeback I hoped for". Digital Trends. 2023-12-09. Retrieved 2024-02-19.
- ^ Dev, Siddhanth (2023-12-24). "10 Best Songs In Fortnite Festival". TheGamer. Retrieved 2024-02-19.
- ^ Webster, Andrew (2023-12-09). "Fortnite Festival is Rock Band without the plastic instruments". The Verge. Retrieved 2024-02-19.
- ^ a b Hester, Blake (December 26, 2023). "The Head Of Harmonix Talks About The Future Of Fortnite, The Metaverse, And Music". Game Informer. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
- ^ Lyles, Taylor (January 31, 2024). "PDP's New Wireless Guitar Controller Works With Rock Band 4 and, Eventually, Fortnite Festival". IGN. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
- ^ https://www.ign.com/articles/fortnite-festival-finally-adds-support-for-rock-band-4-and-pdp-riffmaster-guitar-controllers