Epic just ruined Fortnite. The Firework Flare Gun is dead. After an eternity of threatening to do so, Tim Sweeney made the call and, for the first time ever, made his video game bad. For years, players have been clamoring for one thing: more environmental kills in battle royale.
Many players cannot stop saying this. Just check out these tweets from vocal fans of the game:
there should be more avenues for environmental kills in fortnite
— niki grayson (@godsewa) August 9, 2022
It’s a well-known fact that environmental kills make every game better!
— UndeadMitch (@MitchoftheDead) August 9, 2022
put more environmental kills in @FortniteGame
— niki grayson (@godsewa) August 9, 2022
Unfortunately, Epic Games (makers of Jazz Jackrabbit and Paragon) have decided to take features away from gamers instead of giving features to us. Features like the Firework Flare Gun: the best weapon in the game.
For the uninitiated, the Firework Flare Gun was a modification of the Flare Gun — which was added in Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 4. The weapon’s use case is pretty self-explanatory; it fires a flare (which can set things on fire). If it travels a far enough distance, it activates the “Shakedown” effect, which allows its user to see opponents highlighted on the map in a certain radius beneath said flare. The Firework Flare Gun turned the flare into a firework, so when you shot it in the air it… looked and sounded like a firework.
Here. Take a look at an example of the Firework Flare Gun’s utility in the clip below. While playing as Rey Star Wars, from the hit Star Wars films, I identified a rando on a pier across Loot Lake. I then popped a flare over towards them, tagging the players and also forcing them off said pier (because it was now on fire). They swim over to me (???? idk why they did this) and then, just like in Star Wars, I used a shotgun to quickly eliminate my opponent. Who I think was a professional soccer player. I then do a dance.
The information gathered from the flare is useful, sure. I mean, who wouldn’t want to know the exact location of the enemy squad consisting of the Predator, Gamora, Darth Vader, and LeBron James? But the weapon’s true beauty lies in its ability to create environmental hazards — which introduce a delectable amount of chaos to combat encounters.
In all seriousness, within the normal Fortnite battle royale mode (the one with building) the Firework Flare Gun could double as an intel-gathering salvo and a distraction if it was used to set an adjacent building on fire. Is there a squad at the gas station down the hill? Fire a flare out there and blow up those gas pumps, forcing your enemy where you want them.
In Zero Build (where there is no building), the weapon is instead an excellent way to clear out large structures or counter players who have hidden inside or near flammable zones (like forests or the Rave Cave).
The Firework Flare Gun is dead now, though. Taken away. Taken from me. I will be unable to burn Fortnite John Cena to death in a wooden house of his own making. I will now have to settle for cutting him in twain with a flying rotary saw blade, or crushing him with a falling tree like in a children’s cartoon, or by placing him in the path of Darth Vader’s lightsaber, or by trapping him in a narrow cave as he gets flattened by the rock from Indiana Jones, or by running him over with a bus, or by luring a shark over to his location and then baiting said shark into chomping Mr. Cena to bits, or by throwing him off of the top of the Daily Bugle from Spider-Man.
The game just isn’t going to be as fun anymore. That’s really a shame.
