Fortnite season nine has arrived. After the volcano erupting and the vault opening up for the first time, the map has changed in some significant ways and might be a little unrecognizable to you. While this isn’t as game-changing as season seven’s map changes, there are still some crazy things happening to our beloved island, including a quick trip to the future.
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Many of the locations you’ve come to know and love are now showing off a sweet neon cyberpunk aesthetic.
General map overview
While this isn’t as dramatic of a change as you would expect, there are some notable additions. There are a total of three new locations that are all reworks of previous places. There are also a ton of minor changes around the map like the addition of the sky platforms, some changes to Polar Peak, and more. Let’s go over all of the various changes that have occurred that you need to know about.
Fortnite season 9 map: Neo Tilted
Perhaps the biggest addition to the Fortnite island in season nine is the very quick return of Tilted Towers. Recently, the volcano was brewing something up in season eight, getting ready for an eruption. When it finally happened, it destroyed Tilted Towers and Retail Row.
Now that we are in the “future”, it seems that Tilted Towers has not just been rebuilt but changed its look as well. It is now called Neo Tilted and features a futuristic neon cyberpunk aesthetic. A lot of the buildings are pretty similar from before, but now they have a slicker and more appealing style.
It even includes some of the same buildings that were “under construction” from before, so it seems that even in the future, not much has changed in this ever-popular location. Tilted Towers continues to be one of, if not, the most popular location on the map.
Fortnite season 9 map: Mega Mall
Tilted Towers wasn’t the only location rebuilt in the future. Retail Row has recovered from the volcanic destruction and instead of having a town dedicated to retail, it now has a massive mall to explore.
There are a couple of houses and buildings around, but the majority of Retail Row has been converted into the Mega Mall and its large parking lot. The Mega Mall has a few floors to explore, including a rooftop with vents that will blast you into the air if you need to get somewhere fast.
There are numerous shops within the mall including the new Pizza Pit, the only real competitor to the beloved Durr Burger chain. As you would expect given its size and complex inner areas, there is a ton of loot around Mega Mall that you can find. Just a cursory glance around the area during a match gave us a couple of unopened treasure chests, despite there being a ton of players there.
Fortnite season 9 map: Pressure Plant
The third and final new location in the season nine map is the Pressure Plant area. This is the only truly new location as the volcano in season eight was never actually a named area. The volcano still exists with the Pressure Plant located inside of it, using the lava to produce power.
You will still find lava south of Pressure Plant so you will need to be careful there and around the plant. It’s mostly one big structure for players to explore, and you will find plenty to explore in the plant and loot as well. This will likely be the least popular of the three new areas, so it is worth exploring during matches for some awesome weapons like the new combat shotgun.
Fortnite season 9 map: Sky platforms
Though this isn’t a new named location, there are multiple unnamed sky platforms that you can find around the island now. These sky platforms are similar to the expedition outposts from season seven and the pirate camps from season eight, both of which still exist in all of their glory.
There are a total of seven sky platforms that you can discover, and they are all evenly distributed across the map. You will mostly find them near named locations like Dusty Divot, Paradise Palms, and Polar Peak. They are fairly large and identical to one another. They have a good bit of loot, making them great landing spots at the start of matches.
Thankfully, if you don’t land on one of the sky platforms from the start, it’s not too hard to reach one from the ground. All seven of them have four slipstream pillars around them that you can run into to fly upward to the station. The sky platforms are also the star of our most recent challenge guide for the week one challenges, so be sure to check that out for all seven locations.
Fortnite season 9 map: Slipstreams
Slipstreams are a new form of natural travel that have popped up across the island, similar to the ziplines and volcano vents from the last two seasons. Unlike those, though, you will find slipstreams covering a massive portion of the map.
There are three different slipstreams we have discovered. The first is this massive circle of wind centered around the middle of the map. It covers most of the central areas and if you jump in, it will fly you around the map. This is a great way to quickly travel to places you want to explore while still making it inside the circle in time.
Both Neo Tilted and Mega Mall have slipstream paths of their own. Both named locations have a circular slipstream that goes around the location and also connects to the big circle in the middle. This makes travel between the two new locations and the rest of the map pretty easy, but you do want to be careful because you are vulnerable when traveling in this state.
Last but not least, the final set of slipstreams are the ones we mentioned in our sky platforms guide. Each of the seven platforms has four slipstreams around them that travel vertically rather than horizontally and can be used as a lift to the sky before gliding to far away places. It is worth noting that vehicles can enter the slipstream too, so feel free to grab a Baller vehicle and jump inside for a trip of a lifetime.
Fortnite season 9 map: Minor changes
There are plenty of minor changes to the map that take some time to find. One of the most notable ones, though, is the massive crack in the ice wall that contains a good portion of Polar Peak. With summer quickly approaching, it’s possible we could see this burst open this season.
Junk Junction hasn’t changed much, but there is a portion of the old Tilted Towers you can check out if you’re missing how things used to be. There is also a new mansion near Paradise Palms in the desert that bears some resemblance to John Wick’s mansion in the movie franchise. This is likely an intentional easter egg since a John Wick-like skin is one of the most famous in Fortnite.
Loot Lake is mostly back to its old self after seasons of floating islands and other changes. The vault still exists at the center but the buildings are back on the western side and they have a more futuristic feel. The hilarious under construction shed near Salty Springs and Fatal Fields got a little upgrade but is still oddly unfinished.
Another new addition is the wooden fish at the hot springs near Sunny Steps and Lazy Lagoon. We suspect that this will have something to do with a challenge in the future so stay tuned for that. Last but not least, there are a ton of new Fortbytes that you can find around the map and discover some intriguing surprises. It seems there’s around 100 in total, some related to challenges, but it looks to reveal a potential skin or some other unlock if you are able to get all 100 before the end of this futuristic season.
