Fortnite

Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows (YMMV)
Current goal: Merk children

Though I am an avid battle royale player and shooter girlie, I don’t play a lot of Fortnite. The last time I got into Epic’s massive metaverse/BR, it was when Ariana Grande held a concert inside of it, and I could run around its colorful world dressed as an ethereal version of the singer. But my TikTok has recently been inundated with videos of kids staging fish weddings and attacking Peelys, so I redownloaded the game and it’s already got its hooks in me. It helps that, in the massive gap of time since I last played Fortnite, there’s now the No Build mode (which was always the gameplay aspect I most struggled with) and a GTA-style car radio that lets me flip a sports car end-over-end off a cliff while blasting Fall Out Boy.

Sure, managing editor Carolyn Petit burst my bubble when she told me that my frequent Victory Royales were thanks to the deluge of bots in matches, but I’m not going to let that deter me from gloating after every win. Fortnite reminds me that I can have fun while playing competitive shooters, so I’d like to spend my weekend decompressing with that. — Alyssa Mercante