GAME MODES
Fortnite has multiple game modes, using the same engine; each has similar graphics and art assets. Five of these modes are directly created and managed by Epic Games and its subsidiaries:
Save the World is a player-versus-environment cooperative game, with four players collaborating towards a common objective on various missions while avoiding the effects of an encroaching cataclysmic storm. The players take the role of commanders of home base shelters, collecting resources, saving survivors, and defending equipment that helps to either collect data on the storm or to push back the storm. From missions, players are awarded a number of in-game items, which include hero characters, weapon and trap schematics, and survivors, all of which can be leveled up through gained experience to improve their attributes.
Fortnite Battle Royale is a player-versus-player game for up to 100 players, allowing one to play alone, in a duo, or in a squad (usually consisting of three or four players). Weaponless players airdrop from a "Battle Bus" that crosses the game's map, and then scavenge for weapons, items, and resources while trying to stay alive and to attack and eliminate other players. Over the course of a round, the safe area of the map shrinks down in size due to an incoming toxic storm; players outside that threshold take damage and can be eliminated if they fail to quickly evacuate. This forces remaining players into tighter spaces and encourages player encounters until the last player or team is alive.
Rocket Racing is a racing game, developed by Psyonix and serving as a spin-off title to Rocket League. Players race vehicles, gaining speed boosts from special lanes sections or by drifting, as well as the ability to jump and racing on vertical and inverted surfaces, while avoiding obstacles on the course.
Fortnite Festival is a rhythm game developed by Harmonix, consisting of three modes. In the "Main Stage", players play popular hit songs and original tracks created by Harmonix and the Epic Games Sound Team, hitting notes to the rhythm in the Main Stage on one of the four unique parts: Lead, Guitar/Bass, Drums and Vocals, in a manner similar to Harmonix's Rock Band games, while the "Battle Stage" pits sixteen players to get the highest score and survive each round until one player remains. In the "Jam Stage", players cooperate to make remixes, similar to Harmonix' Dropmix and Fuser, using any part of any song within Festival mode, in which are also usable in Battle Royale, Creative and Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN).
In addition to these modes, Fortnite offers the sandbox mode, Fortnite Creative. Within this mode, players are given complete freedom to spawn any item from the Battle Royale gamemode on a personal island, and can create games such as battle arenas, race courses, platforming challenges, and more. Furthermore, it also supports Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN), which allows players to edit worlds using Fortnite assets. Creative and UEFN also allows players to create custom Fall Guys games which can be accessible within the Fortnite launcher.
All modes except Save the World are free-to-play; Save the World is pay-to-play. The games are monetized through the use of V-Bucks, in-game currency that can be purchased with real-world funds, but also earned through completing missions and other achievements in Save the World. In other modes, V-Bucks can be used to buy cosmetic items such as character models or the game's battle pass, a tiered progression of customization rewards for gaining experience and completing certain objectives during the course of a Battle Royale season. All modes of Fortnite are cross-platform play compatible, requiring users to use an Epic Games account for cross-saving between platforms.