The recent musical collabs in Fortnite involving the legendary Daft Punk have spawned a beautiful land for players to roam about and experience the iconic soundtrack. While many were enamored with the experience, not all players have been ebullient about it. To assist players in finding their way in the Daft Punk experience rooms, the official Fortnite account released a visual guide, noting that one may find themselves lost in a space so beautiful yet challenging.
The Daft Punk experience in Fortnite gives a player the chance to dive into an atmosphere around the duo’s music through various chambers related to various aspects of their discography. This is not the first musical collaboration in Fortnite, but it is certainly among the most visually ambitious to the extent that players need a bit of help to fully explore all areas. The official tweet displayed a map showing where all the rooms are, hinting that the event might feel more maze-like than past musical events.
Hence, player reaction fluctuated widely from amazement and joy to outright disgust. Eldoraan Games called the experience: “AMAZING!!” Another said: “Sounds like an amazing concept for an experience; I want to know how the visuals sync with the soundtrack,” while in a rather harsh critique, one French-speaker dismissed it: “frankly, it’s complete crap. full of bugs + deadly boredom. garbage.”
Thereby, the event had spawned many player demands outside of Daft Punk-related ones. Many players have been begging for the return of Peacemaker emote, with a few saying, “GIVE US PEACEFUL HIPS BACK ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜,” and another begging, “re-enable the Peacemaker emote bro this isn’t fair.” Some asked about permanent versions of temporary game modes, with many asking for “delulu” to become permanent on weekends as it “made me come back to the game.”
Requests for other collaborations are clogging the replies too. The line-up is all over the place, from Cobra Kai skins to Dante from Devil May Cry, with one particularly enthusiastic player pleading for KISS to be the next Festival mainstage act, “PLLLEEEAAASSSEEE!!!!” followed by a ridiculous amount of rock hand emojis. Another recommended that Outkast would have been great for Fortnitemares beside Scooby-Doo.
Many seem to be plagued with technical issues. Several report that they’ve been suffering from server crashes and errors that blocked them from completing quest tasks that would reward them. One complained, “Did not get credit for the Daft Punk experience y’all always break this shit,” while another asked for updates about those who “attended the event early but got an error and was not able to finish the quest to get the kicks.”
Certain ones got some specific commentary for the Daft Punk skins. There was talk that some players showed Alive 2007 encore outfits during the experience but that actually it wasn’t available for editing; one pleaded, “THE ALIVE 2007 ENCORE OUTFITS WERE RIGHT THERE MAN GIVE US THEM AS EDIT STYLES PLEASE ðŸ˜ðŸ˜.” Another said that Fortnite should just treat this like they did with Eminem and give Bonus Styles to anyone who completed the full event.
Fortnite’s visual guide shows a series of interconnected rooms with each having its own aesthetic tied to a different Daft Punk era. From smooth futurism of their later productions to the raw vigor of the earlier ones, the experience seems to cover the whole span of the career of the duo. The fact that a map has to be provided suggests that this space might be a bit more tricky than your normal Fortnite experience, either with hidden areas or confusing layouts that can leave players wondering where to go.
What made this really interesting was how one simple tweet about a navigation guide became an umbrella for all player feedback and demands. It is as though all of a sudden players saw that the Fortnite account is active and took that opportunity to unload every complaint and request they’ve been holding on to for so long. From permanent modes to emotes that are due back to future collaborations, the replies resemble one giant wishlist scattered with legit reactions to what’s going on now.
Being more recent than events with Eminem and Gorillaz, the Daft Punk collaboration exemplifies Fortnite’s advancement into a stage for musical experiences beyond just battle royale. Despite the technical difficulties and split player reception, the experience is far, far, far removed from the standard simple survival shooter gameplay from which the game began.
The longer the players play and talk about the Daft Punk world, the more evident it becomes that, for better or worse, Fortnite’s musical experiments are here to stay. The melding of iconic visuals and music with player interaction churns out moments that create buzz around the event-and some other off-topic player demands and complaints along the way. Whether it’s because of their love of it or because they think it’s “complete crap,” Daft Punk is undoubtedly engaging a good number of people in new ways; and maybe that was the whole point of Epic all along.
