Things are shaking up on the Fortnite island — literally. In the latest natural phenomenon to rock the game, the island has been hit with a series of tremors, which have created large cracks in the ground. The earthquakes also seem to be following a schedule; if you want to see the next one in person, here’s a handy countdown timer. So far, the cracks have been limited to just east of the Lazy Links region.

This is all likely part of the buildup to season 8 of Fortnite, which will kick off in less than two weeks. Previous seasons also included major shifts to the island itself, adding things like temporal rifts, floating islands, and an entire Arctic region. The steady rhythm of the earthquakes, meanwhile, is reminiscent of Fortnite’s rolling cube, which traveled around the island making strange changes before disappearing altogether.

Season 8 of Fortnite comes at an interesting time for the battle royale game. While Epic’s game remains immensely popular, it has received some significant competition of late from Respawn’s sci-fi shooter Apex Legends, which racked up 25 million players in a week and regularly tops Twitch. Meanwhile, BioWare’s Anthem is similarly looking to use major environmental events as a major part of its storytelling.

It’s not clear what exactly will happen with the tremors, but, of course, that’s part of the fun and what makes Fortnite’s particular brand of storytelling so interesting and unique.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/15/18226060/fortnite-earthquakes-tremors-island-season-8