Every few years or so, Fortnite undergoes a pretty significant overhaul, ushering in a new "Chapter." While Fortnite receives consistent updates throughout the year, adding new weapons, storylines, points of interest, and cosmetics, these Chapters mark some pretty big changes for the beloved battle royale. And despite coming much earlier than previous Chapter updates, Fortnite Chapter 4 may just offer some of the biggest changes yet.
Kicking the Chapter off in style, Fortnite Chapter 4 has added a ton of new mechanics to the game, ranging from the ability to ride dirt bikes to the new capture points to a brand new Augment upgrade system. Along with that, both the Doom Slayer and Geralt of Rivia have been added as cosmetics, and some exciting new weapons have been introduced. But by far the impressive feature of Fortnite Chapter 4 is its new graphics engine.
Fortnite Chapter 4's Next-Gen Graphics Are Very Impressive
When players boot up Fortnite Chapter 4 for the first time, they'll immediately notice just how much better everything looks, and it isn't just recency bias. Fortnite Chapter 4 is utilizing Unreal Engine 5.1, arguably the very best gaming engine available right now. While the untrained eye might not be able to pick out the distinct differences this engine upgrade brings, they'll certainly notice that something has changed for the better, and they'd be right. Every single technical element of Fortnite has been greatly improved, from the game's lighting to its destruction physics.
According to Epic Games, Unreal Engine 5.1 has improved Fortnite in several key ways, each of which relates to a certain aspect of the new engine. Unreal Engine 5.1's Nanite has given Fortnite some incredibly detailed geometry, with buildings apparently being able to render millions of polygons in real-time. Every single stone, brick, and plank of wood is modeled and rendered individually, and the same can be said for each rock and blade of grass outside. Each tree apparently contains 300,000 polygons.
Unreal Engine 5.1's Lumen ensures that Fortnite Chapter 4's lighting is, surprisingly, some of the best in gaming right now. Ray-tracing is the biggest feature of Lumen, with light now reflecting naturally off Fortnite's lakes and other glossy surfaces. This realistic lighting also encompasses interior reflections, with light sources like fires bouncing off walls in a natural way. Even Fortnite's many cosmetics have been factored in, with skins that emit light having a glowing effect on the environment.
Paired with Unreal Engine 5.1's Lumen technology is its realistic virtual shadow mapping tech. This allows each and every object in Fortnite's world to cast a realistic shadow, with even each individual leaf casting its own shadow on the ground. This also extends to player skins, with Unreal Engine 5.1 being able to render shadows in real-time, meaning that any Back Bling or accessory will have its own unique shadow. The last Unreal Engine 5.1 feature that's truly noticeable in Fortnite Chapter 4 is its Temporal Super Resolution technology, which allows for better graphical fidelity at higher framerates, which is just one of the reasons why the game's character animations look much smoother. Although Fortnite Chapter 4 has retained its cartoon-y art style, all of these new Unreal Engine 5.1 changes have significantly improved the game's visuals and performance, and though some players may not be able to put their finger on it at first, they'll certainly notice that things have changed for the better.
Fortnite is available now on Mobile, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
