Fortnite OG Chapter 1 Season 1 is nearly here, and it’s bringing back an iconic piece of the arsenal: the Pump Shotgun. This slow-loading, brain-busting monster is often considered the best shotgun to ever grace the game, but that doesn’t mean it will land back in the game without a little bit of controversy. It was previously restored from the vault once before, but only lasted a few months before getting replaced by the Charge Shotgun once again.
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For anyone who missed out, the Pump Shotgun inspired fear in the earliest days of Fortnite. Close-range fights were dominated by the “Double Pump” meta, where players would keep two of these monstrous shotguns in their inventory, and switch between them after every shot to bypass the pump animation and immediately resume shooting. This was a blessing for high skill players. A few streamers even made careers off of steamrolling lobbies this way—but it rubbed general audiences the wrong way, and was finally nerfed in Patch 5.0 in 2018 (and vaulted shortly after.)
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This surprise return is part of Fortnite OG, a full transformation back to the game’s early days. Not only will all of the classic weapons, like the Assault Rifle (SCAR/AR), be back in the game—but games will be be played on the OG map, just as it looked all the way back in Season 01.
So, for those who missed dropping in at Dusty Depot or Retail Row, now is your chance to relive the glory days. It’s been a long time since then, so here’s a quick refresher on the POIs of that classic battlefield.
- Anarchy Acres
- Dusty Depot
- Flush Factory
- Greasy Grove
- Loot Lake
- Moisty Mire
- Salty Springs
- Tomato Town
- Retail Row
- Pleasant Park
- Wailing Woods
This is Epic Games’ second try at recreating Fortnite’s original magic. A temporary OG playlist was added to the game in 2023, luring players back in for a few rounds of pure nostalgia. Social media reception for the back-to-basics mode exploded, but it wasn’t enough to change the developer’s mind about keeping it around. Now, the same nostalgia has no expiration date. Fortnite OG is back as a permanent mode, and even has it’s own Battle Pass.
All in all, this will get the blood flowing for anyone who put time into Fortnite Chapter 1. If you’ve longed for the days when the Eraser skin was the only way to cosplay as John Wick shutting down Pleasant Park, this update will hit all of the right spots. It should be refreshing to experience a lost era of the game. However, Fortnite has gone through a lot of transforming since then. Things won’t be precisely as you remember. Let’s hope it’s close enough to the real deal that it feels natural. Who knows, maybe removing some of the early clunk might even deepen the experience and give us all a new level of appreciation for an old favorite. Regardless, you can jump into the action when the Fortnite OG Chapter 1 goes live on December 6th.
