The players didn’t really find Close Encounters to be a hit with some getting ecstatic and filling my mentions with confusion and some others demanding that older modes be brought back. The mode was released with a witty tweet from the official Fortnite account: “Keep your friends close and your enemies…even closer 😧.” Now, what is this actually about, and why has the player community been so divided?
Well, Close Encounters is strictly close-range combat indeed. Shotgunning is, or should I say was, the keyword for this one, and the mode tried to force a bunch of hectic close-quarter fights upon the players. So, no sniper shots in the distance, and no hiding behind weird builds (depending if you play Zero Build or not). Just pure chaos. And this intensity is what some really enjoy while others despise it. While another player @Soulbound_TV encapsulated the frustration with, “Can’t wait to get third-partied mid-hug 🥲.” That’s the vibe. Close quarters mean you can never really be safe, no matter how good a spot you think you found. Another player, @A_PICKLE_SPEAR2, did not hold back: “that game mode sucks ngl they should have never made it.” Ouch. Meanwhile, @chees102 offered an oddly positive one, “surprisingly actually fun bc i had a full game with real players.” So yes: a mixed bag indeed.
But here’s the thing: With a big enough gathering of Fortnite players, you’d never find a fully satisfied group. Tweets replying to the announcement are full of demands for the return of older modes. @francisco_drako just threw it out straight: “Bring back 50 vs 50 OG.” @Robostev echoed that sentiment simply with, “bring back 50v50.” And @Prabal591 begged, “Bring one shot back and I’ll love u forever.” It almost feels like every new mode just serves as a reminder of everything they want back.
That leads to the Great Zero Build versus Builds War. @MENT7Lfn threw some serious shade at the mode for being Zero Build: “Bro fortnite is for builds not zb, it’s like splitgate without portals. Might aswell play apex.” @DaPhantomsMind and @tgraybird then proceeded to brawl back and forth about which version was more popular. Classic Fortnite Twitter drama.
Following on from that were the inevitable complaints about bugs and glitches. @LouieBellamy chimed in with, “Hey, this loading screen is not showing in my locker, is there an issue with it?” A bit later, @2ttr4 tragically spilled their frustration over the servers: “Yo, I found a pretty crappy glitch in your system…Because of this issue, you can only play Battle Royale. The other maps won’t load.” Where would Fortnite be without every update spawning yet another technical headache?
Then, there were the random demands. @ButterchuYT declared, “Add this dance as an emote, you will get 1.3 Tetillion dollars in sales,” of course accompanied by a video link. Meanwhile, @azylxi obsessed over a weird concern about a particular character’s eyes: “Dude, fix miyakos eyes, WHY ARE THEY PURPLE????” Priorities, people. But with regards to Close Encounters, it’s just Epic’s latest touring show thrown in as competition. It’ll be loved by some; it’ll be scoffed at by others; and folks will have very strong opinions. One thing that will always be true is that Fortnite fans sure will not stay quiet. More chaos and another tweet storm will be brewing, no matter if the mode stays or becomes LTM history.
