Fortnite Update 7.01 Adds Close Encounters Limited Time Mode, Infinity Blade Weapon

Fortnite Season 7 is underway and its update to Fortnite 7.01 brings the Close Encounters limited time mode (LTM) and the Infinity Blade. No, not the classic iOS game, rather the Infinity Blade weapon from the game of the same name. Close Encounters is an interesting addition to Fortnite's battle royale mode, bringing jetpacks and shotguns to the fore alongside quicker matches and stat-tracking enabled too. The Fortnite 7.01 update also adds Creative Mode. This will be available to all from December 13. The Fortnite 7.01 update download size is around 150MB on iOS.

Fortnite update 7.01 Close Encounters LTM patch notes

• Summary: close quarters combat with shotguns and jetpacks.
• The only weapons in this mode are shotgun variants.
• Jetpacks and heavy shotguns can be found in chests and supply drops.
• Other shotgun variants are spawned as floor loot.
• The storm moves in more quickly than normal at mid to late game.
• Typical match length is about 15 minutes.
• Stats are enabled for this mode.

Fortnite Infinity Blade patch notes

• This Mythic melee weapon can be found on Polar Peak.
• Primary Fire delivers a powerful sword slash. It deals big damage to enemies and destroys structures in one blow (75 damage to players).
• Alternate Fire allows the player to leap great distances, destroying objects in its path. Upon landing, it delivers damage and a knock-up to nearby players (25 damage).
• The wielder of the sword is also granted additional abilities: an increased pool of max Health and Shields (200 Health/200 Shields). Regeneration of effective Health over time up to max Health and Shields (1 HP per second). An instant burst of effective Health upon elimination of an enemy (50 HP). Increased movement speed (130 percent).
• The first player to pull the Infinity Blade from its pedestal will be instantly healed to full Health and Shields.
• If a player picks up the Infinity Blade, all other inventory items aside from building materials will be dropped.
• When the wielder of the Infinity Blade picks up an item (aside from building materials), the Infinity Blade will be dropped.
• The Infinity Blade will be dropped when the wielder is knocked out or eliminated.
• Only one Infinity Blade will appear per match.

The timing of Epic Games bringing the Infinity Blade into Fortnite is no coincidence. Earlier in the day, the company killed off the entire Infinity Blade trilogy on iOS.

"At Epic we strive to put players first and to provide a supported, full-fledged experience in every game we publish. With the development of Spyjinx and other projects, it has become increasingly difficult for our team to support the Infinity Blade series at a level that meets our standards," reads a post from the company.

Considering that Epic Games is making a ridiculous amount of money from Fortnite, it's hard to believe that the company can't make the necessary effort to support what many think are some of the best mobile games around.

The removal of the Infinity Blade games comes after Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney suggested that the company was far from happy with Apple's policies, bringing them up in a recent interview.

"We'd like to launch [the Epic Games Store] on iOS in 2019, however, that is in apparent conflict with current Apple policy," Sweeney said in conversation with Game Informer. "We believe all general purpose computing devices, such as PCs, smartphones, and tablets, should be open to competition between stores."

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