I wish I still had time to raid in Destiny. There was a period where I played little else, night after night, wrapped up in the adventures of Eurogamer’s Des Tiny OMG clan. One day I realised my PS4’s disc eject button had stopped working and called up PlayStation’s support line. How long had it been faulty, they asked? No idea, I said, I hadn’t tried to take Destiny’s disc out since the previous year.
The last week in Fortnite has given me the tiniest taste of all that again, with its Storm King raid boss mode. Fortnite was founded in PVE, of course, and the Storm King is actually the endgame of its grindy Save the World portion. Now, just for Halloween, it has been tweaked and transposed into Battle Royale for the masses to try.
Eight players are matchmade onto a small island within the main Fortnite map where the Storm King suddenly sprouts forth from the ground – a tornado in demon form, all horns and claws and Fortnite brand purple. He’s the first proper boss Battle Royale has yet seen, and the latest evolution of Fortnite’s traditionally PVP section offering avenues for PVE play.
Storm King Boss Fight | No commentary Watch on YouTube
There are damage phases, of course, as you work to target weak points before a full-on DPS assault on the Storm King’s horns, which must be broken off one by one. There are adds to kill for better loot and ammo, and spawners which need to be kept on top of. The Storm King himself, meanwhile, has a selection of clearly telegraphed attacks which can lob boulders, rain down meteors, wipe away all floor loot/buildings, and – most deadly – target players with a death ray.