After almost nine years, the Fortnite mode that started it all is finally going free-to-play

Today, Fortnite is one of the biggest and best battle royale games, an open-world Lego adventure, a spiritual successor to Guitar Hero, and a massive canvas for players to create whatever the heck they want. But before all of that, it was a co-op PvE survival shooter. Save the World, as the mode came to be known, was the launchpad for everything Fortnite became, but it's been mostly forgotten, living life as a niche, premium experience. However, nine years later, Epic Games clearly sees some renewed potential in Save the World - either that, or it just feels super guilty for locking it up all these years… It's been announced today that Fortnite Save the World will be going free-to-play in April.

Even during the very early days of Fortnite's meteoric rise as a battle royale, Epic had publicly discussed making Save the World a free experience too, but for whatever reason, those plans never materialized. That means the PvE mode - which sees players select a Hero class, mow down zombie-like creatures called Husks, and build forts to survive the onslaught - has stayed locked behind various paywalls. Most recently, it could be accessed through bundles that also awarded cosmetics or V-Bucks, Fortnite's premium currency that just became more expensive due to Epic tweaking prices.

It's still received new content over the years, but has faded into obscurity due to the shadows cast by the free battle royale experience, Fortnite Creative, and spinoff modes like Festival and Lego Fortnite. However, Epic will change all that next month.

It's confirmed that Save the World will be made free-to-play on Thursday, April 16, with all methods to purchase the experience now removed from storefronts. Anyone that's already bought Save the World access can continue to play it up until that date.

To generate more hype, Epic has launched a pre-registration initiative with the goal of reaching a million sign ups before the big day. If the community manages it, everyone who pre-registers will be granted a brand new Hero, Snowstrike.

Existing Save the World players are going to be getting their own showering of gifts "as a thank you for the last nine years," according to Epic. They'll be getting a bunch of Superchargers, which can help rapidly progress Heroes and items to level 50, as well as a Hero recruitment voucher, a weapon unlock voucher, and 10,000 Gold to spend on items in the in-game store.

It'll be interesting to see how Epic rolls Save the World into the wider Fortnite ecosystem now that it's going free-to-play. Will it be getting seasonal updates at the same time as the core battle royale, and will they be thematically similar? Will it be supported in its own way that's free from the seasonal rhythm? Will Fortnite's famous crossovers leak into Save the World? Luckily, we don't have long to wait to find out.