The Fortnite: Chapter 2 - Season 2 Live Event Explained

After weeks of delays, leaks, and rumors, Epic Games finally held its Fortnite: Chapter 2 - Season 2 live event, better known as The Device. Streamers screamed at the tops of their lungs. Gravity went every which way but down, and the game map once again changed. The event was so popular game servers quickly reached capacity, but thankfully every latecomer had no shortage of streams to experience the weirdness.

If you missed out on the event and don't have time to wade through an ocean of reaction videos that talk over the action, here's a quick play-by-play of The Device.

Every match slightly before The Device event began as normal. As time ticked by, the Storm constricted. Slowly, players were funneled into The Agency, smack dab in the center of the map. A strange but fitting place to hold the event since it was the focus of the recent season.

While most players were too busy shooting each other, some eagle-eyed participants noticed that all the underwater hatches in the lake surrounding The Agency were open. While those who saw the hatches wondered what happened, they were too busy dodging bullets to uncover the mystery.

And then, as the countdown timer approached zero, things started to get weird.

Several minutes before the countdown reached zero, the unthinkable happened: players stopped killing each other, partially because everyone was too excited for the event, but mostly because everyone's UI's disappeared, and nobody could attack. Players were not sure what would happen, but then it happened. Kaxons buzzed. Sirens roared. The event was starting!

At first, pylons rose out of the water, one from each hatch, Then, the Agency exploded (don't worry, it was the kind of explosion that destroys buildings but leaves living creatures unharmed), and from the rubble, a giant orb rose. This orb, the Doomsday Device, crawled towards the sky and unleashed a pulse of energy that flipped gravity on its head. As players floated through the air, the Doomsday Device connected with the pylons and shot electricity at the storm, driving it back.

By all accounts, the Doomsday Device was successful. Every gambit Midas took constructing the device paid off, since it destroyed the storm, right up until the point where it didn't.

In the middle of the event, reality melted away, and players were teleported to a sterile office. People were talking outside, but nobody could understand what they said. And, the scene quickly shifted back to the island, right as the Doomsday Device failed. The Storm surged, turned an angry shade of purple, and rained with a vengeance. All that hard work reversed in a second, and the storm seemed ready to swallow the ruins of The Agency when the Doomsday Device powered back up, ready for round two.

The Doomsday Device tried to push the Storm back again, but the clouds fought back. Then, everything turned red and the pylons overcame the Storm, not just pushing it back but completely dissipating it. Finally, players could enjoy a relaxing afternoon on an island with clear skies. Everything was coming up Midas until reality tossed players back into the mysterious office.

This time, players could hear what was happening. A man outside the office exclaimed how unstable "everything is" and asked a woman named Janice to turn a device called the "Resonance Actuator" up to 7.2. More importantly, this mysterious person wondered if, "It's not just a storm." Nobody knew what he meant, but they knew it couldn't be good. To make matters worse, some players noticed three files labeled "Top Secret" on a nearby desk. One file had a picture of Midas. Another featured the Lynx skin, and one was emblazoned with an unreleased character known as The Engineer.

Before players were thrust out of the office again, the mysterious person stated that the problems they were experiencing had something to do with "the loop." While many players wished they could stay longer to learn more information, even more wished they could revisit the office because things had gone from bad to worse.

Once players returned from the office, many looked up expecting a bright, sunny sky, but instead they were greeted by what can only be described as the lovechild of a tsunami and The Red Sea circa the Exodus from Egypt.

Most of the island was submerged in the ocean, and the rest was surrounded by a giant wall of water. Yachts teetered, threatening to fall. Giant, Megalodon-sized sharks prowled the water. But, before anyone could get their bearings, they were teleported to the office one final time and came face to face with the mysterious man who was talking outside. Turns out it was everyone's favorite beginner skin Jonesy, albeit in a suit and tie. And before anyone could even parse this surprising turn of events, time reset.

After players left the office one last time, they found themselves back on the battle bus, flying to the island to once again to duke it out for the coveted victory royale. This time, however, they jumped onto a pocket of dry land surrounded by a tsunami frozen in time. Anyone who tried to swim through the water took storm damage, and that was where the event ended.

The Device shook up the standard Fortnite formula, that's what it means. Instead of running away from an encroaching storm, players will now escape a deluge of water that digests them. Anyone who lands in the storm water and escapes will be launched forward, so if they enter the water high enough, they could get some decent glide time. Plus, a giant tsunami is far more ominous and terrifying than a wind storm.

The Fortnite theorist community is going to have a field day with the mystery surrounding the loop, the Resonance Actuator, and Agent Jonesy. The loop could be a time loop. The island — and everyone who fights in it — is trapped inside the loop, and the storm maintains it. Perhaps, multiple dimensions are involved, and the island is some weird nexus where they all intersect, which would explain all the different Jonesys, including the new Agent Jonesy who exists outside of the island (and is named John Jones). Maybe Epic Games will explain everything in the next season, maybe not.