Highlights

  • Fortnite Festival is a new mode in Fortnite that resembles Rock Band and other rhythm games.
  • It is one of several new modes created by other developers for Fortnite, including Lego Fortnite and Rocket Racing.
  • Players can practice alone, customize their controls, change difficulty levels, and play as a band to maximize their score.

Fortnite recently got a new mode entitled Fortnite Festival, developed by Harmonix, the studio behind the Rock Band franchise. Rock Band and Guitar Hero were massively popular in the mid-00s through the early 10s but later fell out of vogue. The fall of plastic guitar-driven rhythm games was as fast as their ascent, but even with them in the past, rhythm games have retained a niche audience. Given Fortnite's plethora of collaborative events with musicians and Epic Games's acquisition of Harmonix in 2021, it was only a matter of time till something like Fortnite Festival came along.

The new Fortnite Festival mode is one of an array of new games created by other developers for Fortnite. Alongside Festival are Lego Fornite, a survival crafting game, and Rocket Racing, a racing game based on the popular title Rocket League. Crafting games and Rocket League have been popular in recent years, making those modes intuitive for many, but for a lot of Fortnite players, the rhythm game genre may feel foreign. Fortnite Festival bears a striking resemblance to Rock Band and its contemporaries, so for people who have played those titles, it may feel like nothing new, but for fans of Fortnite who are new to rhythm games, there are a number of rules that will help them find success.

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Rules For Success in Fortnite Festival

Don't Be Afraid To Practice Alone

Fortnite Festival awards an individual score and a band score to players. Because of this, it's easy to feel like playing poorly is bringing down the band as a whole. Luckily, players can queue alone and play by themselves for practice. While this isn't really necessary, since Fortnite Festival is a very forgiving rhythm game, for new players who might be nervous about jamming with strangers before feeling familiar with the mode, it's an option. This can also be useful for players who might want to practice one song repeatedly to nail difficult parts. Unfortunately, Festival doesn't feature a dedicated practice mode like that found in old Rock Band and Guitar Hero games.

Customize Your Experience

Fortnite allows for the use of a keyboard on consoles and for players to remap their controls. This means that Fortnite as a whole is one of the most customizable experiences in gaming. Players who feel they are struggling with one control method should try a different one. If the default controls for Festival aren't comfortable, there is no reason not to remap them to something that is; Fortnite does not punish gamers for adapting the title to their wants and needs. PDP is working on a new guitar controller like those that shipped with Rock Band for Fortnite, so soon players will have that as a choice too.

Change Your Difficulty

Festival allows players to change the difficulty they are playing on between songs while rocking out with their favorite characters in Fortnite. One's instrument can also be changed. These features help to make the game accessible since not all songs are created equally. On top of the four difficulty choices, each song displays a relative difficulty for each instrument, showing how it stacks up within the player's chosen difficulty level. For players who are still learning the game, switching between difficulties is a great way to ease into playing harder songs.

Play as a Band

Fortnite Festival rewards players with multipliers for going on streaks and hitting all the notes. Hitting orange notes rewards players with an Overdrive meter. When Overdrive is activated, it applies a universal multiplier to the band. To maximize their score, band members must save Overdrive and use it at the same time. This can require some coordination and may be harder to pull off in a group of random players, but in a group of friends, it's a great way to try and go for high scores. One of the best parts about Fortnite is the diversity of modes and things to do that it includes, so if Festival mode ever becomes frustrating, players can try hopping into Battle Royal or the new survival game Lego Fortnite.