Lego Fortnite: First Impressions After 10 Hours
The thing is, I love Fortnite. I also love Lego games. I also love Minecraft and survival games (check out our review of Subnautica here: https://www.egoclown.com/articles/new-york-9s-subnautica) . So naturally, a Lego style Fortnite survival game would be something I would very interested in. And, so far, about 10 hours in, I’m really grooving on it.
The world is beautiful, the mechanics are clean and smooth. It feels great to play, and unlike some other games I’ve been playing recently (Dragon’s Dogma), it doesn’t feel like there’s a button missing. You can jump, dodge, swing, interact…all the key things a game needs in the 2020s. You can craft, build, shoot arrows, blow things up. It really is a sandbox, in the best way possible. And there’s a lot to do. It provides the right amount of direction with just the right amount of freedom.
You’ll probably notice at the end of this article that the game isn’t scored. That’s because so far, in Version 1.0, you can tell that they’re gonna add a lot. Right now there’s only 3-4 biomes (depending on if you count caves), and a limited amount of items, structures and enemies in the game. That’s not to say it’s a low amount, it’s just clearly a game that is very early in its lifespan. If Lego Fortnite was a finished game being sold in stores, you’d think it’s fun, but a little underwhelming. But as a free live-service game in it’s first update cycle, it shows a tremendous amount of potential.
This game looks great. I give the graphics 10/10.
If you were to load up Lego Fortite without being in the Fortnite launcher, you would wonder what game this exactly was. I doubt you’d immediately figure out it was Fortnite. At first I found myself thinking “Yeah this is great, but what does this have to do with Fortnite?” A few hours later though it clicked.
What does Fortnite do better than any other game? Nothing. There is nothing Fortnite is better at than any other game. Minecraft has better crafting. For the gunplay, Destiny and others are probably better. For the melee combat (which is most of Lego Fortnite’s combat), games like Elden Ring or Nioh are better. So…what does Fortnite do better than any other game? Simple. It’s a jack of all trades.
It may not have Minecraft level crafting, but it’s crafting is still very good. It’s not a AAA FPS in terms of gunplay, but it’s still great. It’s melee isn’t elite, but it’s supremely playable and fun. Fortnite is the best at being good at everything it does. And that’s what makes Lego Fortnite great.
What good survival game is complete without caves to explore?
Lego Fortnite has many finely tuned, rich mechanics and systems of play, but these systems are also very versatile. It’s why you can build a fortress and then blow it up in about 50 seconds in Fortnite. It’s why the launcher has everything from parkour games, to shooters, to Bingo, to racing, to….the point is, this game and this engine, can do everything. And Lego Fortnite takes advantage of that flexibility to create a rich and diverse gaming experience.
In all my time in Lego Fortnite, I was never bored. There were maybe some times I wasn’t doing exactly what I wanted to do. For example, at night, I would stay in my little town because going out meant I would be accosted by hostile mobs the entire time. But…that was a good thing. It was fun in a different way, because it forced me to play within my base. It made me plant farms to harvest food, build new structures and machinery to upgrade my base and equipment, and gameplan for the next day. In that sense, it was a fun restriction. I could always go out and run around at night, it just wasn’t wise. The game gave me the freedom to make poor choices, and this allowed me to make the right choices.
The desert is brutal and inhospitable. Best prepare before coming here.
Though it may not be Minecraft with 40 different biomes (“Windswept Savannah Plateau?”), Lego Fortnite’s 3 biomes definitely make an impact. There is a bit of a Goldilocks effect going on here. The Forest, which is the starting biomes, and definitely the place you’ll spend most of your time early on, is just right, with no temperature effects, relatively easy to deal with enemies and plenty of starter resources. The Desert, which is probably the second biome you’ll go to, has high temperatures, which damage the player unless they have a specific “charm” equipped that negates heat damage. There are also scorpions, who hit really hard, and desert wolves, who are a buffed version of the normal wolves you’ll find in the Forest.
The exploration in Lego Fortnite is great, but if there’s one thing that’s obvious right now, it’s that the game loop and to a certain extent, the enemy design extends vertically more than horizontally. You collect resources to make a thing, then you use that to collect resources to make another thing, but this thing also needs pieces from somewhere else, so you go there to get materials to build the New Thing, which is just a better version of the Original Thing. So, for example, to make a “Forest Pickaxe” you need to go into the Cave and harvest “Knotroot” while using your normal pickaxe. That’s not a bad thing- a lot of games are like this, and it’s also present in most other Fortnite modes. I’m just mentioning it so that you know that that is how it works.
The combat in Lego Fortnite is actually great. You can block, jump, and roll. You can choose between sword combat and ranged combat. These are all simple concepts, but they chain together into a fun and sturdy combat experience that I’ve always enjoyed while playing the game. The rolling in this game is really fun. It’s a nice crisp roll that puts some good distance between your opponent. The blocking is also well done, with well-timed blocks having special benefits against certain enemies that would otherwise be very challenging. I like how this game encourages you to use it’s various combat mechanics.
My town is small right now, but it just keeps growing by the hour.
The most unique thing here is the town hall system and it’s NPCs. Essentially, you start by building a campfire, which establishes a “town.” Then you can level up your town hall by building new structures. As your town gets bigger, NPCs come to visit. If you have enough beds, you can get some of them to stay in your town and do various jobs such as collecting resources, refining resources and other odd jobs. They’ll also help you fend off mobs at night. The NPCs are all really fun and there are different advantages to having certain ones in your town. I also loved how you can have an NPC of your choice follow you around, Fallout companion style, and basically wingman you as you explore.
So far, I only have one town hall, in the Forest. I plan to make another in the Desert, and another in the Mountains (the cold biome I haven’t explored much yet.) In general, the town hall is the heart and soul of the gameplay. It’s where you’ll spend a lot of your time, it’s the place you’ll be building, cooking food, storing resources and also the place you’ll be running to when the sun goes down and mobs take over the world. The entire gameplay loop is centered around leveling up your town hall and getting more NPCs to stay there as you capacity increases. Then, if you so choose, you can start another town in a different biome and rinse and repeat.
The Mountains loom ominously over the Forest in a way that promises adventure.
The most exciting thing about Lego Fortnite is that, for as good as it is, it’s not even close to being done. This game has a bunch of potential, and I can’t wait for Epic to fully realize it as the game keeps on being updated. I would love to give you a score, or a rating for this game. But the reality is, it’s simply too early to make a real determination of how good this game is, because I don’t think I can predict how good this game could end up being. And that’s awesome.
10 hours in, Lego Fortnite still feels as charming as when I first loaded in. The world still feels exciting and mysterious, the gameplay is still fresh and diverse, and the overall vibe is immaculate. It’s some of the most fun I’ve had in Fortnite ever. I can’t wait to play more. It feels like the start of something special.
