Everybody remembers how big Fortnite was in its heyday back in 2018. The battle royale was truly a cultural phenomenon, a hundred players duking it out to be the last one standing was a concept that captivated the masses. The vibrant and colorful world where these battles took place as well as the cool character skins no doubt contributed to the game’s massive popularity, especially among younger players.

So many kids loved this game. They were learning dances from the game and wearing backpacks embroidered with beloved Fortnite characters like Drift and Raven. We saw Twitch streamers like Ninja and SypherPK soar in popularity after they began playing Fortnite on stream. Even celebrities like Drake got in on the action and began playing the game.

I remember riding the bus to school and seeing people playing Fortnite together on the mobile version of the game. This battle royale really was the game to play back then.

Since those olden days, the game of Fortnite has evolved a lot. We’ve seen three new chapters bringing brand new maps and game mechanics, and countless new seasons switching up the weapon pool and locations. The old map and weapons from the glory days are long gone, and while the game has still maintained a strong player base, the popularity isn’t where it once was.

This makes sense, of course. Nothing can last forever.

However, Epic Games has made a shocking decision for the new season of Fortnite. Instead of going to Chapter 4: Season 5 as expected, they have created Chapter 4: Season OG. The original Fortnite map and locations from the glory days are back, as well as the old weapons and items. Even the old character skins are returning to the item shop, now renamed the OG Shop.

On the first day of the new season, the popular Black Knight skin returned to the shop, allowing players who missed out all those years ago a chance to buy it. It’s exciting to imagine what old skins will be returning in the coming weeks.

In Fortnite: Season OG, Epic Games has brought back the old weapons from Chapter 1, such as assault rifles, shotguns, machine guns, and grenade launchers. I particularly like the light machine gun. Old items like the Chug Jug, which restores all of your health, and the bush, which you can hide in disguise, have also returned.

The map has remained unchanged but the graphics were updated to be much more detailed. The textures are higher resolution, but the look is still similar. The water in particular stuck out to me as exceptionally unique and beautiful, because it retained the old cartoonish blue while adopting a more realistic texture and animation. This combination of old and new is something I’ve never seen in a video game before.

The map is smaller than the recent Chapter 4 map, meaning battles take place much faster, battles with lots of people are more common, and matches aren’t as long and drawn out. This makes playing the game a lot more engaging and fun, and with newer mechanics like sprinting still implemented, it plays faster than ever.

You can also play the new season in the Zero Build mode, where building is disabled, something that wasn’t available back in 2018. This is great for players who aren’t as skilled at building or aren’t interested in it, such as myself. I prefer navigating the terrain and hiding behind things like buildings and trees as opposed to just building a wall to hide from fire. This mode also removes the frustration of someone building away from a fight when you were about to win.

The amount of players coming back to Fortnite when Season OG launched was so high that upon launching Fortnite players were met with a time queue to wait for the servers to be ready. The game hit an all time high record number of players, most likely due to old players looking to relive past experiences and newer players curious about what Fortnite used to be like. I saw so many people I know posting pictures of them playing the new season on Snapchat. People really are excited and enjoying Fortnite’s return to form. So my question is: where we droppin’?