Fortnite survival mode coming later this month

Fortnite could be an incredible tower defence shooter if it weren't for one of the worst progression systems of all time—so said James when he reviewed it earlier this month. But players are clearly willing to put up with the banal busywork for its occasional thrills because more than one million budding base builders have shelled out to shoot its monsters in the face. 

To celebrate the occasion Epic Games has announced a new survival mode, arriving on August 29 as part of the Survive the Storm update. Basically, you'll have to build a base and fend off waves of enemies for between three and 14 in-game days. 

You'll receive some "amazing" goodies for making it out alive, according to Epic, and the longer your survival campaign the better the rewards.

The update will also introduce new storm systems, which will sweep into your world and add status effects to both your character the monsters you're keeping at bay. Husks might hit harder when they're at low health, for example.

But it's not all grey skies, because the storms will also make certain classes or weapon types more effective. It sounds like these will rotate, perhaps as encouragement for you to get to know its entire roster of heroes.

Executive producer Zak Phelps and creative director Darren Sugg shed a bit more light on the update in the video below. Skip to 3:20 to find out more about the survival mode and storms (and watch before that for chat about game balance, stability, and future content plans).