Summary
- Fortnite Festival update on May 24 adds Pro Lead and Pro Bass modes for all controllers and keyboards.
- Harmonix, creator of Rock Band series, developed Fortnite Festival mode with over 100 songs available.
- New update allows players to keybind controls, introducing "HOPO" notes without the need for strumming.
Fortnite Festival is receiving an update very soon, which includes more options to play the Pro Lead or Pro Bass difficulty modes. Fortnite’s Festival game mode was released in December, around the same time as Rocket Racing and LEGO Fortnite. The game mode is very similar to the Rock Band series, as players hit an arrangement of notes sliding along a track to licensed songs. Since its release, Fortnite Festival has amassed over 100 songs in it’s catalog.
Harmonix, the studio that created the Rock Band series, has been in charge of developing Fortnite Festival. Epic Games acquired Harmonix in November of 2021 and eventually ended support for its previous title, Rock Band 4, in January. According to Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopolous, they aimed to create a free-to-play music game accessible to the millions of Fortnite players. The game mode has achieved critical success, with thousands of people playing every day.
Coming in Chapter 5 Season 3 on May 24, Fortnite is adding additional options to access the Pro Lead or Pro Bass difficulty modes, which were previously locked to just guitar controllers. Fortnite Festival supports just a few existing plastic guitar controllers. These include the Rock Band 4 guitars and the new PDP Wireless guitar controller, with support for more on the way. Players without a supported guitar controller will now be able to play Pro Lead or Pro Bass on any console platform or PC.
Pro Bass and Pro Lead Modes Are Now Accessible to All Controllers and Keyboards
No matter which song part players select, there will be an option to see the notes as multi-colored gems, similar to how they appear when using the Pro Bass or Pro Lead modes. This update also adds support for non-pro parts for guitar controllers, like Vocals or Drums. The guitar controllers that are supported for these modes are still pretty costly, costing over $130 each.
Pro Lead and Pro Bass will now allow players to keybind their controls to their keyboard on PC. With new settings for fretting Green, Red, Blue, and Orange notes alongside an input for strumming, similar to how Rock Band works. Keyboard and mouse players will also have the ability to remap controllers to keyboards or accessibility devices to play the Pro Lead or Pro Bass song parts.
In Pro Lead or Pro Bass mode, players won't encounter the "Lift Notes," represented by an up arrow and activated by releasing a button press at the precise moment. Instead, players will come across "Hammer-Ons" and "Pull-Offs," known as "HOPO" notes. These "HOPO" notes have a distinct visual appearance from regular notes. To activate them during a combo, players simply need to press their note color keybind without the need for strumming. The mode is accessible on all Fortnite Festival songs, with new tracks releasing every week since its release. Fortnite Festival’s new update will release on May 24, alongside the new Chapter 5 Season 3.
Fortnite
- Released
- September 26, 2017
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- Developer(s)
- Epic Games
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PC, Android, iOS
