Fortnite Save the World is a looter shooter survival video game produced by Epic Games, part of the game Fortnite. It is a cooperative and sandbox-style game with elements of tower defense and played in hybrid-third-person, described by Epic as a cross between Minecraft and Left 4 Dead. The game was initially released as a paid-for early access title for macOS, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One on July 25, 2017, with plans for a full free-to-play release announced in late 2018. Epic eventually opted to move the game to pay-to-play in June 2020, discontinuing major development on it to focus on the larger Fortnite game, before finally going free-to-play in April 2026, along with release on the Nintendo Switch 2. The retail versions of the game were published by Gearbox Software, while online distribution of the PC versions is handled by Epic's launcher.
Fortnite is set on contemporary Earth, where the sudden appearance of a worldwide storm causes 98% of the world's population to disappear, and zombie-like creatures rise to attack the remainder. Considered by Epic as a cross between Minecraft and Left 4 Dead, Fortnite has up to four players cooperating on various missions on different maps to collect resources, build fortifications around defensive objectives that help fight the storm and protect survivors, and construct weapons and traps to engage in combat with waves of these creatures that attempt to destroy the objectives. Players gain rewards through these missions to improve their hero characters, support teams, and arsenal of weapons and trap schematics, to take on more difficult missions.
The game was initially supported through microtransactions to purchase a virtual currency known as V-Bucks, which could be spent on loot boxes that yielded valuable rewards. A standalone battle royale game, Fortnite Battle Royale, was released for the same platforms in September 2017. Epic eventually removed paid loot boxes, instead opting to support the game via direct purchase of cosmetics in the Battle Royale item shop. Following the release, the player-versus-environment mode was officially distinguished as "Save the World".
Synopsis One day, 98% of Earth's human population suddenly disappeared, and the remaining humans found the skies covered in dense clouds, creating chaotic storms that dropped husks: humanoid zombie-like creatures that attacked the living. The survivors constructed "storm shields", a field that cleared the storm clouds from immediately overhead and reduced the attacks from husks, and used these to set up survivor bases across the globe. The player is a commander of one of these bases, charged with going out of the storm shield to find resources, survivors, and other allies to help expand their storm shield and return Earth to its normal state.
Gameplay
Fortnite Save the World is described as a unique blend of sandbox survival co-op lite RPG tower defense game, and is an amalgamation of player progression, exploration, scavenging items, sharing scarce resources, crafting weapons, building fortified structures, and fighting waves of encroaching monsters. Tim Sweeney, Epic Games' founder, described the game as "Minecraft meets Left 4 Dead".
The game is played from a third-person perspective. Up to four players cooperate in various missions to collect resources, build fortifications around defensive objectives that help fight the storm and protect survivors, and construct weapons and traps to engage in combat with waves of these creatures that attempt to destroy the objectives. Players gain rewards through these missions to improve their hero characters, support teams, and arsenal of weapons and trap schematics to take on more difficult missions.
Quests and events Players can review their current story progress and quests, which can include daily, weekly, side, challenge, and event quests, which when completed provide in-game currency or resources.
Fortnite Save the World offers themed events with a unique progression line, new locations, and rewards based on those themes. The first such event was its Halloween event, "Fortnitemares", which offered Halloween-themed heroes, characters, weapons, and traps (usable outside the event) by completing many objectives.
Map and missions Missions are divided among four world locations - Stonewood, Plankerton, Canny Valley, and Twine Peaks, which become available only after progressing far enough in the story. During timed events and the Survive the Storm mode, special locations are added. Within a location are several possible mission areas that show the type of mission, the terrain it takes place on, its difficulty rating relative to the player's current power level, and whether the mission is currently under special "storm" conditions that throw random effects, like buffed husks or mini-bosses, into the mission but have potentially better rewards if completed. The player can select a special "play with others" option that automatically matches them with players at a similar power level and story progression on a random mission for added rewards.
During missions, players can make their fortifications from one of three base materials (wood, brick, and metal), and in several configurations, including floors/ceilings, walls, stairs, and ramps; players can edit these for more configurations, such as adding a door or window to a wall. Each fortification part can be upgraded with more resources of the same type to improve its durability, and when they are damaged, can be repaired by spending additional resources. Traps, which have a few activations before they fall apart, can be placed on floors, walls, and ceilings, and arranged in ways to make them more lethal or effective against husks. Traps may also include beneficial resources for players, such as healing pads, defender posts, and launch pads. Similarly, players can use a range of weapons, but these have limited durability that depletes as they are used or as a penalty if the player should be downed by husks and need to respawn without the help of allies. Players can construct new weapons, ammo, and traps from gathered resources, or find these by searching containers across the map. During missions, the game progresses through an accelerated day-night cycle; during the day, the husks are more passive and rarely pose immediate threats, while during the night, bands of husks may spawn in and will aggressively seek players.
Most missions take place on procedurally generated landscapes. Most missions are based on locating sites representing the objectives on the map, building fortifications around those locations, and then facing off against several waves of husks that will try to destroy the objectives. During completion of these missions, players are generally given a "storm forecast" to know where husks will spawn in as to enhance fortification in that direction, though this direction can change in more difficult missions. Other missions are time-limited, requiring the players to locate and help many survivors, build several radar towers, or clear out various encampments of husks scattered around the map before time runs out. These missions encourage the players to explore the map and farm for resources (either by searching objects or destroying them with an axe) used to build the fortifications, weapons, ammunition, and traps needed to defend or attack the husks. Players also frequently need to seek bluglo, a special resource that does not carry over between maps to activate certain mission objectives. Some missions are considered a loss if the objective is destroyed or time runs out, while other missions allow the players to rework their fortifications and start their defense again if the objective is destroyed. Maps will frequently have optional objectives that are discovered through exploration, such as human survivors that need help. Completing these successfully earns immediate in-game rewards such as resources, weapons, and traps. Missions themselves may provide bonus objectives, such as by completing the mission within a certain in-game period, using a few fortification pieces, or saving more survivors than the minimum necessary, which affects the quality of rewards the players receive after the successful completion of the main mission.
One unique mission type is Storm Shield Defense (SSD) missions. In each of the four world locations, the player is allocated a map that remains persistent, representing the site where their base's storm shield generator is placed, and in the storm mode, the player must return to this map to expand the storm shield, requiring them to add a new objective to defend successfully to continue the story. At any time, the player can enter this map without starting the defense mission and use their carried-over resources to build out the fortifications and traps, or add resources to a special storage area for this map. Successfully completing SSD-missions unlocks "Endurance Mode", which allows players to test their skills and builds against an increasingly difficult and unending siege on their base.
Command and armory The player has a roster of hero characters, defender characters, and support characters (called Survivors). Hero characters represent characters from one of four classes that the player can use while on a mission, as well as used to undertake resource-gathering missions, making them unavailable to use until they return from the mission. Defender characters can be summoned to help with defense, but only if there are fewer than four players on a mission. Support characters (called "Survivors", who must be rescued in game) are used to form various non-playable squads that provide passive bonuses to the player's attack strength, building speed, armor, and health, with additional benefits if the player can match certain characterization attributes within a squad.
The player can spend commander upgrade skill points, earned by completing missions, and technology research points, earned over time, to unlock new base support skills, gadgets, and tools. These can improve a player's base attributes, attributes that are shared with other players while on missions, unlock higher levels of evolution for schematics and characters, open up new squad positions, or unlock general skills that players can use in the field. Collectively, the player's progress on the commander rating, their survivor squad composition, and their selected hero character make up the player's current "power level", which relates to what difficulty of missions the player should take and the game's matchmaking services.
The player has an itemization inventory of weapon and trap schematics, along with collected resources. The crafting schematics are used to construct weapons and traps when on the field. The player can spend different types of experience points and resources earned as mission rewards to level up and evolve schematics and characters. For weapons and traps, this generally boosts their effectiveness as well as unlocking additional attribute "perk" bonuses, while leveling up hero characters will increase stats and unlock special skills the character has while in the field. Schematics and characters are generally assigned a rarity, which determines how much they can be leveled and evolved. A player's inventory of schematics and characters is limited, but players can opt to slot anyone they do not need into a collection book to gain rewards when certain collection sets are completed; use one or more of these schematics or characters to transform them into a new random item, or simply retire them to gain back experience points and other resources to free up the inventory slots.
Locker, store and item shop