It looks like Fortnite’s much-maligned mechs are finally on their way out. Last night, players started to notice that the vehicles – which are officially known as Brutes – have begun self-destructing the moment they arrive in the game.
As you can see in the tweet further down this article (via Eurogamer), the Brute explodes the second it hits the floor. As should be apparent, that makes it basically impossible to actually pilot one, suggesting that Epic has disabled the vehicle – at least for now.
Technically, there’s a lore-based reason for these explosions, as the mysterious Visitor appears to have infected the two-player mechs with something akin to a computer virus. Quite what he’s done to them to make them explode quite so violently isn’t clear, but I would imagine that the Fortnite player base isn’t particularly interested in the narrative specifics in this particular case. You see, the Brutes have been deeply unpopular since their arrival in the game at the beginning of the current season.
The mechs, which seat two players and come equipped with significant firepower, armor, and mobility, dominated the game at almost all competitive levels, leading to some of Fortnite’s biggest personalities calling for their removal from the game.
Thank you epic its like letting my anger out when I see a brute land lol #Fortnite #XboxShare pic.twitter.com/cNClnAFr5E
— Stitch (@StitchAndSpyro) September 25, 2019
Epic says it’s kept an eye on the vehicles, but has repeatedly suggested that it’s generally happy with their power level. Given that they now appear to be tying directly into the game’s lore, it seems increasingly likely that maintaining their presence in the game during Season X was part of the plan all along.
Either way, it’s looking like the mechs won’t be available in the next season, which sounds like good news for the vast majority of players. We don’t know exactly when Season 11 is set to begin, but early October seems like a decent guess at this point.