Fortnite 'The Device' Flood Event Wrap-Up: Five Important Details

Epic Games has just wrapped up its 'The Device' event that Fortnite players have been anticipating for weeks. Many of the leaks we've been seeing since early May were proven true, namely that there's a 'Great Flood' that will fundamentally change the way the game is played. The Device included a bunch of bright lights, loud noises, and floating around. Here are some important details from the event that you may have missed amid the action.

In case it isn't clear at this point, Midas failed big time. His 'doomsday' device was designed to stop the Storm forever, freeing the island of its battle royale nature and allowing the inhabitants to live in peace. Instead of bringing about this new world, Midas has made things considerably worse by unleashing an ultra-powerful Storm — one that rained so hard it caused a massive flood that covers the entire island.

The flood barriers are visible surrounding the island in regular game matches post-event, but they're not quite the same as what players saw during The Device. These waters act like the lakes in Fortnite — players could swim in them, though they took Storm damage, preventing any sort of significant explorations. Once these walls close in, the Fortnite island will be truly submerged, requiring an entirely different style of gameplay.

As mentioned above, the watery walls during The Device event were very close to The Agency, allowing players to get a good look. What did we see? Destruction. Trees and broken building parts were visible floating in the water, indicating that this wasn't so much a rising flood as it was a powerful tsunami-like event.

The rapid waters damaged large parts of the island, ripping up trees and, no doubt, destroying some buildings. While the island will remain in Season 3, it'll no doubt look considerably different, likely with old underwater ruins to explore.

That's right, folks — the sharks that leaked last month were made official by The Device event. The new water barriers surrounding the agency included a number of details, including the island destruction listed above. If you were paying attention, you'll have noted the presence of some new creatures in these waters, namely big, shadowy sharks.

In case you were wondering: Yes, the Storm remains and yes, it works through the water. Players who entered the waters after The Device event started taking damage and displaying the bright purple color associated with the Storm. It seems this dynamic will not be leaving Fortnite, but it remains unclear for now how Epic will handle the waters, the Storm, and related gameplay.

Fortnite Chapter 2 – Season 3 will arrive later this week, giving players only a couple more days to finish their challenges.