Fortnite developer Epic Games announced it would be introducing the ability to respawn in the main modes of Battle Royale with “Reboot Vans” in the next update.
These Reboot Vans would allow players to revive their dead teammates by visiting one of the vans placed around the map and inserting a teammate’s “Reboot Card,” which drops on death alongside their inventory of weapons and items.
Multiple teammates can be revived at once by anyone in the squad regardless of who picks up the Reboot Cards. The Reboot Vans will then make a lot of noise and shoot a beam of light into the sky upon activation, alerting other nearby squads that it is being used. Once used, the van will be on cooldown and cannot be used again for an undetermined amount of time.
They were first seen sporadically in-game last month, weeks after Respawn’s battle royale title Apex Legends launched with the same reviving mechanic. Fortnite has had limited-time modes that feature respawning, such as the team deathmatch-like Team Rumble, but the regular Duo and Squads modes always held that teammates will stay dead once eliminated completely.
The Fortnite community had been up in arms at Epic Games when the studio reverted the change of giving health/shield after elimination for its regular modes in the 8.20 update, and moved it to the more competitive Arena playlist. The new Reboot Vans could help matches feel more competitive for teams to stick with it, especially if a teammate dies early in the game and would otherwise be forced to only spectate until the end.
The Reboot Vans should go live with the next Fortnite update sometime next week.
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