Canadian studio Bron has launched a Fortnite mini-game based in its Gossamer World, using the newly released Unreal Engine for Fortnite (UEFN).
Gossamer World is a transmedia project, based on a 2006 novel Gossamer by Lois Lowry, with an animated Netflix series, NFT collection and online RPG in the works.
The Netflix series is yet to be released despite being finished some time ago, the NFT collection was scratched and re-made, and the status of the RPG is not clear with the release of the Fortnite “game experience”.
In a first-look review below, Polemos game expert Cavan “Caveman” Roe gives his impressions of the Fortnite mod.
The release last month of the UEFN – an Unreal Engine software tool specifically for Fortnite – was regarded by many in the gaming community as a major event, with the expectation of a flood of high-quality games.
In the case of Gossamer World, 3D assets such as characters and buildings already made in Unreal Engine could be imported directly into UEFN, making publishing the mini-game efficient.
As noted in Caveman’s review below, some aspects of Fortnite – such as the player skin – made it into Gossamer World unchanged.
The Gossamer World Netflix series was reportedly chiefly made using Unreal Engine 5. The series stars Thomasin McKenzie, Forest Whitaker, Vera Farmiga and Richard E Grant as voice actors.
The NFT elements of the project are being handled for Bron by web3 production company Feature.
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Caveman’s take: Gossamer World Fortnite game
Bron announced they would be building a Gossamer game with Unreal Engine 5 some time ago but the specifics were never disclosed. When they Tweeted about their plans to release a game built using the UEFN the community was both excited and confused.
Many believed they had bought NFT assets for an independent game. This has made some of the crypto community quite upset with the communication from Bron and Feature.
Others see this as a smart move to market the Netflix series which will then feed into the game they believe is still being built, and should be ready by the end of 2023 with the release of the series.
Certainly the description of the Fortnite mod as a “game experience” would seem to indicate the team are still working on a proper RPG.
Playing the game
I had some time to do a run and found it to be a nice 30 minutes to 1 hour of playtime. You can play with up to four other players. Unfortunately when I queued up there was no one else around and I had to go solo.
The main goal is to rid the heap (little fairy village) of the invading nightmares, as seen in the shot at the start of my review above.
These zombie-like creatures will chase you and attempt to kill you. You bring them down playing either an archer or a melee-based character.
When you kill the creatures they will drop crystals you can collect. You can also find these crystals in chests scattered around the map some in well hidden spots (shot immediately above).
As you progress you can use the crystals to unlock new and enhanced weapons and items to keep you alive during battle. I will do a run later to get the Epic crossbow at the end for 1200 crystals.
The final boss is a beefcake. He has a bunch of health and just doesn’t die. I would recommend just looping safely around the map, taking shots, until he eventually falls.
Overall the game was engaging and showed some of the amazing scenery we have seen from past trailers. It did feel quite immersive, other than the fact that my character was straight out of Fortnite and that just didn’t fit well into the fantasy realm.
At the moment this is not a crypto game as of now and I do hope for a much more developed game to come out of Bron.
