Dune Skins Are On Their Way To Fortnite
Fortnite is including some new Dune skins in preparation for the highly-anticipated movie hitting the big screen this weekend.
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House Atreides has assumed full stewardship of the plains and suburbs of Fortnite, a recent gameplay demo reveals. Dune characters Paul (Timothée Chalamet) and Chani (Zendaya) are coming to the third-person battle royale very soon, armed with gliders and bladed weapons derived from the native Fremen of the barren desert wastelands of planet Arrakis. YouTube content creator HYPEX II leaked the new skins and accessories ahead of the film’s release on Friday. Check out the clip below:
Fortnite’s upcoming Dune collection boasts a 21-piece item set composed of two character skins (Paul and Chani) in Bedouin-inspired Bespoke stillsuits, Fremkits serving as decorative back bling, standard Atreides kindjal (or Twinblades) for harvesting, Fremen-approved Maker Hooks for hitching rides on sandworms, and Ornithopters for gliders. Paul Atreides comes in two outfits: masked and unmasked. Chani presumably has the same two options. The catalog adds a new loading screen featuring the Stickworm — a brand-new Fortnite monstrosity with fan-favorite character Fishstick’s face in the body of a sandworm. Paul and Chani can be seen hanging around a fallen Ornithopter as Stickworm brutally stalks them in the background.
For those unfamiliar with Frank Herbert’s original novel, Fremkits are desert survival packs designed by Dune’s native Fremen to help them survive the natural hazards of Arrakis. They contain Maker Hooks, a paracompass and stilltent, Thumpers, and a guidebook called “Manual of the Friendly Desert.” Thumpers are used to summon sandworms. Maker Hooks allow users to mount incoming sandworms, steering them in transit and capturing one if necessary. A paracompass is a specialized navigational tool capable of reestablishing one’s position in the middle of a sandstorm, in case of unstable magnetic input. Stilltents are windproof tents covered in a layer of sand to protect travelers from the planet’s extreme low humidity. The version depicted in Fortnite is strictly cosmetic.
Dune’s Fortnite pickaxes come in two types: as dual-wielding kindjal and as scythe-like Maker Hooks. In the novel, the kindjal is a bladed weapon specific to members of House Atreides. They’re primarily used for combat. Maker Hooks are chiefly used on sandworms. Unfortunately, both long knives serve the same purpose in Fortnite: to gather resources. Items harvested across the Island are used for fort construction, and could be repurposed into makeshift armaments that deal about 20 damage per hit. Ornithopters, on the other hand, are ships capable of interstellar travel. These winged vessels are owned by the Imperium — and all licensed outposts across the galaxy — and can carry up to nine passengers if the back seats are removed. ‘Thopters, as they are otherwise called, have a number of different functions ranging from military use to commercial spaceflight. In Fortnite, they serve as gliders.
The leaked demo also showed six new emotes, one of which is the familiar “sand walk,” a style of travel that focuses on arrhythmic movement. Sandworms in Dune can sense life based on rhythmic vibrations in the sand. To avoid attracting their attention, the native Fremen of planet Arrakis developed the sand walk to confuse sandworms in their path and essentially function as pertinent camouflage. In Fortnite, the sand walk is simply a fun emote players could try — unless, of course, Stickworms finally exist on the Island and danger could strike at any given moment. The loading screen art featured in the video warns players against making too much noise, but references only other players. That’s a shame, since roaming Stickworms would make for an infinitely more unpredictable Fortnite experience.
Fortnite’s Dune collection is part of an upcoming Chapter 2, Season 8 battle pass that pits Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya’s Paul Atreides and Chani against superheroes, monsters, martial artists, soldiers, zombie hunters, and the best Epic Games has to offer. Chapter 2, Season 8 of Fortnite began on September 13 and will end on December 5. Denis Villeneuve’s big-screen adaptation of Dune comes out in theaters and HBO Max on October 22.
