Fortnite's having a fortnight of Star Wars celebrations

A long time ago, in a metaverse far far away, a marketing no-brainer happened. May 4 has been taken over by a Star Wars celebration day, and to mark this year's event Fortnite's having a Star Wars jamboree: some of the stuff is old, like outfits, and other elements are new. 

Various stellar costumes are returning to the item shop (Kylo Ren, Rey, Finn, Stormtrooper, Boba Fett) until May 17, and over this period all players can take part in 'Stormtrooper training'—which is to say, quests. These will see you "confiscate a 'landspeeder' (a.k.a. a vehicle), confiscate and use 'Jedi contraband' (a.k.a. a lightsaber), and more."

Completing five of these earns you an Empire banner (aren't they the bad guys), and in addition to this players will be able to find Stormtroopers dotted around the maps in both vanilla and zero build Fortnite. These Stormtroopers will trade you an E-11 Blaster Rifle, which is actually quite damaging if you can hit something with it, for in-game bars (the gun can also drop in chests).

Of course, in a galaxy far far away, guns are for dweebs. Over the fortnight-long collaboration, various lightsabers will also return to the game: you can whoosh around those belonging to Luke Skywalker, Kylo Ren, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Mace Windu. The above trailer does tease an Obi-Wan appearance, but we'll probably have to wait until the Disney+ series lands to actually play as the only cool Star Wars character.

Speaking of characters, and to digress from Star Wars for a moment, the 24-hour industry that is Fortnite leaks has turned up a picture of the Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff, so expect to see her soon. It's always a bit odd when Epic adds a character that would never use a gun, but that's life in the metaverse.

Returning to Star Wars: this is now basically an annual event for Epic, and an easy win. The developer already has a bunch of Star Wars stuff ready to go thanks to older collaborations, and each year just needs to theme the quests and maybe add another trinket or two. It's interesting inasmuch as you can see how Fortnite has become almost cyclical: it's got so much content now that it can add and remove stuff to create a sense of occasion. That said, it's hard to be too cynical about whacking fools with a lightsaber.

The one exception to this is the Mandalorian skin, which isn't a part of this because it was in a battle pass rewards trail back in the day. There are plenty of other Star Wars characters aside from the biggies though, including Zorii Bliss (?), Fennec Shand (??), and Krrsantan (?!?). The galactic shenanigans run until May 17, and here's the full notes from Epic.