A New Beginning: Chapter 4, Season 1 Recap
Chapter 4, Season 1 began on December 4th, 2022, and ended on March 10th, 2023, lasting a total of 96 days.
NOTE: MOST PHOTOS AND INFORMATION COME FROM THE FORTNITE WIKI PAGE ON FANDOM
Previously…
Before venturing forward into Chapter 4, Season 1, we must look backwards into the Fracture event that concluded Chapter 3. In Chapter 3, Season 4, the Chrome was slowly taking over the Island, but at the start of the Fracture event, the Chrome’s expansion would speed up. The Chrome and The Herald (the Chrome’s master), closed in on the last part of the Island which was at the Reality Tree. After consuming the whole Island in Chrome, the thing that The Herald once controlled consumed her as well and the entire Island was blown to bits, destroying both the current Chapter 3 and former Chapter 2 Islands, as well as the bubble that enclosed both Islands.
As we sat in the darkness, the Zero Point tried its best to scavenge the remains of the old Islands, but it wasn’t enough. Luckily, The Paradigm was there to help us. Using a method called Zero Fusion, she was able to help the Zero Point reach out into three different realities and bring them to the Zero Point to reforge the Island and create the Chapter 4 Island. If you wish to watch the full event, you can find it here: Fortnite Fracture: Chapter 3 Full Finale Event - YouTube
A New Beginning
Now that the Island was reforged, everyone could safely return to the Island. The Zero Point sealed itself in the center of the Island and wasn’t under the control or manipulation of the Imagined Order or The Seven for the first time in a long while. With that, Chapter 4, Season 1 had launched. You can watch the Launch Trailer here: Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 1 Launch Trailer - YouTube
This season’s map was brand new, just like it always is every time there is a new Chapter, but this is the first Chapter to launch with no named POIs from previous Chapters. The new named POIs were the following:
Breakwater Bay (a coastal port from the Oathbound’s reality)
The Citadel (the Oathbound’s headquarters and home of The Ageless Champion, along with his Mythic Ex-Calibur Rifle and Shockwave Hammer)
Anvil Square (village town from the Oathbound’s reality)
Shattered Slabs (Kinetic Ore quarry from the Oathbound’s reality)
Frenzy Fields (major farm from an unknown reality)
Faulty Splits (small town from an unknown realtiy)
Slappy Shores (Slap Juice’s main factory and it’s nearby townhouses from an unknown reality)
Brutal Bastion (a major complex in the snow from Reality-659)
Lonely Labs (research complex in the snow from Reality-659)
Matching our new beginning, there is also a new Battle Pass featuring the following skins:
Selene (unlockable at Level 1)
Massai (unlockable at Level 14)
Doom Slayer (unlockable at Level 26)
Dusty (unlockable at Level 38)
Nezumi (unlockable at Level 54)
Helsie (unlockable at Level 70)
The Ageless (unlockable at Level 86)
Geralt of Rivia (secret skin)
The Victory Umbrella for this season was called the Peerless Parasol:
This season also introduced Augments and Hurdling to the game. The augments would alter the way your game was played with some of them granting weapons while others granted health as siphon or by resting in a bush or leaf pile. Hurdling was activated by sprinting at a half wall object like a fence, causing you to hurdle over it. The Hurdling mechanic works well in Creative modes but was removed from Battle Royale modes for most of the season due to issues and bugs with it.
Limited Time Events
This season also featured multiple Limited Time Events. At first there was Winterfest 2023 which saw the return of Sgt. Winter as he drove around the map delivering presents as well as all the normal Christmas festivities. The Winterfest cabin also returned to the Island thanks to the Zero Point pulling it back in. This also gave us the free presents back again as well. If you wish to watch the Winterfest 2023 trailer, you can find it here: Fortnite - Official Winterfest 2022 Trailer - YouTube
After Winterfest, My Hero Academia took the stage with their own Limited Time Event. Their event added the new Deku’s Smash Mythic into the game as well as some new collaboration skins: Deku, Bakugo, All Might, and Ochaco. After the collaboration ended for a bit this season, it later returned alongside the Dragon Ball Z items which meant that their collaboration skins and the Kamehameha and Nimbus Cloud Mythics returned as well. If you wish to watch the My Hero Academia trailer, you can find it here: Fortnite x My Hero Academia Official Trailer (Deku, Bakugo, All Might, Ochaco) - YouTube
The Kid LAROI also got a collaboration in the form of a concert in Creative that utilized new features from the Unreal Engine Editor, also known as Creative 2.0. Alongside the concert, The Kid LAROI also got his own cosmetic set in the Item Shop. To watch the trailer for his concert, click here: Fortnite Introduces The Kid LAROI’s Wild Dreams - YouTube
The next on the list is Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher. Geralt was this season’s secret skin and while his set could be unlocked through Battle Royale challenges, additional challenges were released that could be unlocked in different Creative maps. If you wish to watch the Geralt of Rivia trailer, you can find it here: Fortnite Geralt of Rivia Trailer..! - YouTube
The next Limited Time Event was the Most Wanted event. This saw new Exotic weapons be added that were guns that were currently in the loot pool but had added effects to them like explosive damage or Zero Point Dash after breaking an enemy’s shields. This event also brought back Vaults and henchmen at different POIs across the map. Completing the challenges for this event would also grant you multiple rewards such as a glider, wrap, and skin.
Multiple smaller Limited Time Events also released this season such as the Find It In Fortnite quests found in Creative modes, the Creed collaboration found in Battle Royale modes, and the Cipher quests that would also be found in Battle Royale modes and would hint towards Chapter 4, Season 2, but more on that later.
Storyline
The Oathbound and Cipher Quests this season are used to continue the story following Zero Fusion. Instead of writing out long descriptions again, I will be using a shorter list system to explain it.
Oathbound (Part I)
-Paradigm goes missing without any hint to where she is
-Oathbound is led by The Ageless Champion, a Snapshot of Geno who was left behind to rule the Oathbound in Geno’s absence
-AMIE and the Looper (that’s you!) investigate the Kinetic Ore that doesn’t originate from Reality Zero and couldn’t be found anywhere on the Islands of previous Chapters
-AMIE gives a mysterious figure from the Oathbound the Kinetic Ore
Oathbound (Part II)
-Rift Warden Stellan works for the Oathbound and makes himself known to us by asking us for our help in constructing the Rift Gate, a portal to other realities
-We place sensors around the buried Zero Point to help consult the stars and determine our position in the cosmos
-Stellan mentions a Shapeless Man watches us with dark purpose
-Stellan worries about what will happen if the Rift Gate isn’t built
-A theory begins within the Fortnite community about the Shapeless Man being The Nothing, but no confirmation is given on if the theory is true or false
-AMIE doesn’t trust Stellan with the Rift Gate, so she builds a miniature version of it to test it out
-After sending items through the Rift Gate, they change into different versions of what they used to be
-AMIE sent micro versions of herself with each item and after asking each micro-AMIE what they saw, they mention that they found The Scientist and the rest of The Seven (whether The Paradigm is there too or not isn’t known)
-The micro-AMIEs say that The Seven (still unknown if The Paradigm is there or not) are shifting and never keeping the same form whilst experiencing a “fate darker than the worst imaginable”
Oathbound (Part III)
-Stellan asks us to upgrade The Citadel’s technology to allow ourselves to build the Rift Gate
-The Rift Gate can’t hold enough power, but the Kinetic Ore will allow us to, so we refine it and use that as a power source
-Stellan mentions that the Shapeless Man sent him to the Oathbound and ordered him to construct the Rift Gate
-Stellan also says that the Shapeless Man haunts his nightmares and if the Rift Gate fails, his nightmares will become reality (the nightmares seem similar to how The Nothing possesses some of their followers, like Bytes, but there still is no confirmation that the Shapeless Man is The Nothing)
-AMIE decides that once the Rift Gate is turned on, she’ll hack into it and change the coordinates to match where The Scientist is
-We help AMIE build herself a body which uses an AIM robot from Chapter 1, Season 7
Oathbound (Part IV)
-Stellan’s nightmares get worse, so much so that he can’t sleep at night
-Stellan tells us the Shapeless Man “imagined a world of perfect order” (this sparks a new theory in the Fortnite community that the Shapeless Man is Geno and not The Nothing, but no confirmation is given)
-The Rift Gate turns on, but the coordinates get hijacked, and the Rift Gate becomes unstable
-When we scan the Rift Gate to determine if it’s actually unstable, a classical Japanese lantern pops up, hinting at next season
-Stellan sends us to figure out what will happen to the Rift Gate as it tears open the sky with a Rift
-Prophecies don’t say what happens exactly, but there is no going back now and there is warning of a beast to come
-Stellan says he was proud to work alongside us and wishes us the best for whatever happens next
Cipher Quests
-The dialogue that accompanies the Cipher Quests relates to the mysterious Peace Syndicate
-Apparently the different syndicates are all in trouble
-The Peace Syndicate is on their way to us
-Some dialogue hints at how foxes stay together, leading some to believe that the Fox Clan could make a return next season
Recap Recapped
That’s all for the Chapter 4, Season 1 Recap! We’ve covered everything from how we were brought into this season, to the new Island, to the new Battle Pass, to new mechanics, and to the next part of the storyline. With Chapter 4, Season 2 arriving in a few days, just remember to keep the peace for the time being…