Years after being announced and then subsequently put through the ringer with alpha and beta tests, Fortnite made its long-awaited debut in July 2017 as an Early Access title. Initially, there was only one mode — a sandbox campaign called Save the World in which players would fight monsters and complete distinct missions. It wasn’t especially well-received, but just a few months later, the Battle Royale mode would shoot Fortnite to the top of the charts.
Now, over a year after Battle Royale was added to the game, developer Epic Games is set to debut a third mode for the game that will give players the freedom to build to their heart’s content on their own private island. The mode will be called Creative, and anyone who buys a Season 7 Battle Pass can access it starting December 6th.
Epic Games officially announced Creative mode on Wednesday morning (following a big leak on Tuesday night). As you’ll see in the video below, Creative is getting its own spot on the main menu, and appears to be a major expansion upon the concepts introduced in the Playground mode that Epic brought to Battle Royale earlier this year:
Fortnite was already heavily inspired by Minecraft (especially its Save the World PvE mode), but Creative brings the game even closer to the indie hit that inspired it. In Creative mode, you have access to all of the assets that make up the Battle Royale map, and by mixing and matching them, you can create new ways to play Fortnite that neither of the other two modes allow. And through the new Creative lobby, you can check out other players’ creations as well — so even those of us too lazy to build our own worlds can still enjoy the mode.
Battle Pass owners will have access to Fortnite Creative on December 6th, but they can invite anyone to play on their private island, even if the other players haven’t bought the Battle Pass. Then, on December 13th, everyone is granted access to their own private island for free. Epic Games warns that there’s still plenty of work to be done.
