Fortnite’s LEGO, Rocket Racing, and Festival modes are not only fun, but also here to stay

Fortnite hasn’t looked this appealing in a very long time.

Image: Epic Games / LEGO Fortnite

When most people think of Fortnite, they generally think of the Battle Royale mode of the game. Sure, it started off as a nearly entirely different base-building zombie game, but if you ask anyone, it’s all about getting the Victory Royale.

But, because it’s known for a single mode, the game can become a little more one-note for a lot of people. The good news is that Fortnite has actually been adding various player-made modes and features for years to be a little more like its biggest competitor, Roblox.

Last week, however, Epic Games decided that it was time to put a fresh coat of paint on Fortnite with the Big Bang event, a reboot of sorts without actually rebooting. During the event, three new officially-made modes were introduced: LEGO Fortnite, Rocket Racing, and Fortnite Festival.

All three modes, for the sake of brevity, are fantastic, free, and have put Fortnite in the minds of everyday people once again.

LEGO Fortnite, developed by Epic Games in partnership with the LEGO Group, was the first to launch and is a fully immersive LEGO-fied island where you build a village and survive in harsh conditions. If you have older Fortnite skins that aren't licensed, you likely have the LEGO version as well.

Let’s just call it as it is, though: it’s LEGO Minecraft with a Fortnite twist. While it’s not a perfect 1-to-1 comparison, it was bound to happen eventually. But, with the uprising of survival games, one could easily compare the game to RUST, (Sons of) The Forest, or the multitude of other like-minded games out there.

In fact, the game also feels like it has some flavors from the original version of Fortnite, which we know better as Fortnite: Save the World, as LEGO Fortnite has you building up your primary locale to keep out the undead while also traversing the island for supplies and equipment.

Rocket Racing, brought to us by the fine folks at Psyonix (owned by Epic Games) who also happen to make Rocket League, is a full racing mode within Fortnite. While it’s easy to make comparisons to Mario Kart, Rocket Racing plays nearly identically to the Hot Wheels Unleashed series of games.

If you’re looking for an F-ZERO fix or just want a mode that you can play super quick and easy, Rocket Racing is high-octane and great for anyone who enjoys unrealistic racing games.

Fortnite Festival, developed with Harmonix (yeah, the Rock Band and Guitar Hero folks), made literally Rock Band in Fortnite. They might call it Fortnite Festival, but I know what I played.

If you’re unfamiliar with the rhythm game style that Guitar Hero made popular, you play notes in a song by pressing buttons. While later Guitar Hero games added other instruments, Rock Band started the formula for adding vocals, bass, and drums to the mix. In either case, I now wonder when the old plastic guitars that are currently collecting dust in a warehouse somewhere will be usable in Fortnite Festival.

The great news is that Epic Games has announced that these modes are now “here to stay” as both the old guard and new fans are loving them. They even plan to keep them updated regularly, live service style. They are not considered “LTM’s” or Limited Time Modes. They explained that these are treated as full brand new games.

That’s fine. I need time to perfect my racing strats and to figure out how the caves in LEGO Fortnite work anyway.

Fortnite is free to play on nearly any platform (sorry iMacs), including all of the aforementioned modes. If you’re looking to spend some money on the game and buy cosmetics, that’s entirely up to you though. The new Rocket Racing cars do unlock the same car in Rocket League, if you’re connected, though.