Fortnite Season 8 has arrived, and it’s bursting with all sorts of new goodies. New points of interest have been added to the Fortnite map, including a red-hot erupting volcano, the Aztec-themed Sunny Steps, and the swashbuckling Lazy Lagoon. These changes have attracted all manner of new adventurers, including pirates, ninjas, and…a giant banana? Sure, why not? Check out cinematic trailer for Season 8, below.

　　And here’s a look at some of the goodies available in the new Battle Pass. Those who completed all the challenges during the Share the Love event can get this Battle Pass for free – otherwise, it costs the usual 950 V-bucks (around 10 dollars).

　　Here are your Fortnite 8.0 update notes:

　　Battle Royale

　　Weapons + Items

　　Pirate Cannon

　　Push the Cannon into position, take aim, and fire! Alternatively, climb into the barrel and launch yourself!The cannon will fire cannonballs or players a great distance. Cannonballs and players can plow through a number of objects before stopping with a bang, causing damage and knockback to nearby players.Deals 100 Damage to enemies on a direct hit and 50 Damage to enemies within a small radius.Found throughout the environment.Vaulted

　　Sneaky SnowmanChiller GrenadeX-4 StormwingShopping CartAll Terrain Kart---------------

　　Updated Hunting Rifle Icon---------------

　　Reduced the availability of high tier Assault Rifles

　　Total number of Assault Rifles available remains unchangedIncreased chance of receiving a Common quality assault rifle from 48.56% to 56.30%Increased chance of receiving an Uncommon quality assault rifle from 26.83% to 28.15%Reduced the chance of receiving a Rare quality assault rifle from 16.17% to 10.91%Reduced the chance of receiving an Epic quality assault rifle from 7.02% to 3.52%Reduced the chance of receiving a Legendary quality assault rifle from 1.82% to 1.13%Gameplay

　　Added Lava

　　Lava will deal 1 damage per touch and will cause players to bounce off the surface. Watch out!Added Volcanic Vents

　　Volcanic Vents will boost players and vehicles into the sky in a gust of hot air!Party Assist Added

　　Prior to a match, enable Party Assist on a Daily or Weekly challenge to complete it with the assistance of everyone in your party.Party members are able to provide progress to the selected challenge in addition to yourself.This functionality excludes "fill" players who are added into the party during matchmaking or teammates from large team modes such as Team Rumble.------------------

　　Increased Infinite Dab duration from 11 hours to 12 hours in the lobby.Cozy Campfire now glows while active when viewed through a Thermal Scope.Starting in Season 8, daily quests will be automatically claimed once they've been completed.Any Challenges that were ready to be collected will be auto completed and all rewards will be delivered. However, at this time there will be no in-game notification for you receiving these rewards.Limited Time Mode: 50v50

　　Summary

　　Two teams of fifty players fight to the finish!Mode Details

　　Each team has a bus, approaching the island from opposite directions. On the map, the friendly bus has a blue outline, enemy has red.The map has a dotted line, which indicates the "battle lines" between the two teams. Crossing the line will make running into enemies more likely.Farming materials increased 25% over default.Chests & Ammo Crates spawn more often than usual, and carry extra ammo.Limited Time Mode: Close Encounters

　　Summary

　　Close quarters combat with Shotguns & Jetpacks!Mode Details

　　Players start with a Jetpack in their inventory.The only guns in this mode are the various types of Shotguns.The Storm moves in more quickly than normal mid to late game.Audio

　　Above/below footstep improvements.

　　More distinct sound for above footsteps.Tuned the distance at which above/below footsteps travel to be more realistic.---------------

　　Improved footstep audio timings when the game simulation is under heavy load.Set Down-But-Not-Out alert sound spatialization from the location of the downed player.Added stereo sounds for all weapons for those carrying the weapon.Added foley audio feedback when crouching and ADS’ing with a weapon.Improved Rocket Launcher incoming audio. It now plays an additional warning layer if the rocket is coming towards you.Added distant perspective to the enemy glider audio tell.Improved damage/elimination audio feedback.Added a new shield break sound.Improved the “weak-point” hit sound when harvesting.UI

　　Added the ability to access the Patch Notes website from the News Screen.Visual improvements made to squadmate names and indicators.-------------

　　World Marker Improvements

　　World Markers are now visible in the world when placed close to you.Double-clicking the World Marker hotkey will place a “danger” version of that marker. World Markers placed while aiming with a weapon will also place the danger version.Added 2D UI indicators to the World Markers, making them easier to see through objects.World Markers now have an off-screen indicator and display the distance your character is from them.Placing a World Marker on an item will display that item’s icon and rarity.Placing World Markers remains on the same key for PC and console (KBM: Middle Mouse Button, Controller: D-Pad Left). This button can be remapped to any button you want. Let us know on our social channels what works best for you!Mobile also has a button that can be added to the HUD. Place this button by using the HUD Layout Tool.-----------------

　　Added filter tabs to the locker for animated loading screens and pets.Added a card corner icon for certain types of animated cosmetics.Epic has also made some major changes to Fortnite’s Creative and Save the World modes. Most notably, Save the World is getting a major rebalancing and Hero Loadouts that let you customize your characters in a way you couldn’t before. The patch notes for the Save the World and Creative stuff are honestly too detailed to get into here, but you can check them out here.

　　Interestingly, while Epic doesn't refer to it as such in the update notes, they've essentially copied Apex Legends' well-received ping system. You can now point at areas or items, which will highlight them for your teammates – here’s Twitter user TmarTr testing out the feature in the new Sunny Steps area:

　　Fortnite: Can I borrow your homework?

　　Apex: Yeah, just make sure to change it a little

　　Fortnite: pic.twitter.com/SqURXEM94k

　　— TmarTn (@TmarTn) February 28, 2019

　　So, what are your thoughts on Fortnite Season 8? Not the most cohesive of updates, but there’s certainly plenty of fun new features. Fortnite is available on PC, Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and mobile platforms.