Fortnite’s mechs designed to help casual players win more

Epic says the introduction of powerful mech suits to Fortnite was designed to give casual players a better shot at victory.

Fortnite season X launched on August 1, adding two-person mech suits called Brutes to the game, but the headline addition has proved controversial, with many players complaining they’re overpowered.

Epic has since lowered mech spawn rates in Arena playlists, “in order to reduce late-game encounters… due to a higher number of players surviving to those circles compared to non-Arena modes”, and made changes to how Brutes work generally in a bid to improve combat interactions.

In a new blog post, Epic said it has heard the “frequent discussions (#RemoveTheMech) about the B.R.U.T.E., and decided this would be a good opportunity to explain the Fortnite philosophy”.

“The mission of Fortnite is to bring players of all skill levels together to have a fun experience where anyone can win,” it explained.

To date, the game has been weighted too heavily in favour of more skilled players, Epic said, and the mech suit is an effort to address that imbalance.

Another part of the philosophy “is to provide spectacle and entertainment” by regularly adding “content that shakes up gameplay in Fortnite in unexpected ways”.

“The B.R.U.T.E. was added at the start of Season X with this mission in mind,” Epic said. “Since then, we have seen players who had previously struggled with getting eliminations acquiring more, while the number of eliminations earned by more experienced players remained steady.”

It also released the following images showing the impact mechs have had on Fortnite eliminations.