Epic Games has announced that Sidekicks are coming to Fortnite, little pets that you can bring with you into the battle royale as well as other in-game experiences within the Fortnite platform.
These sidekicks are essentially another form of cosmetic that players can earn and, of course, buy. They are customisable, and can even be given cute little accessories. The first sidekick to come to the game is Peels, a small yellow banana dog who’ll be present in the next battle pass starting the 1st November.
If you’re not feeling Peels, there’s another bunch coming in November as part of the in-game shop. This includes Bonesy, Spike, and Lil-Raptor. Epic Games has also teased that some type of cat sidekick is set to come to Fortnite in the near future too, so there should be plenty of options. And that’s before we get to the inevitable IP tie-in stuff that’ll be sure to rear its head in the future.
Sidekicks do not provide any in-game advantage, though they can be interacted with thanks to new sidekick emotes coming to Fornite. They also can “react to the world around you”, though how exactly that works remains a mystery as of writing.
One quirk of the sidekick features is that a sidekick can only be customised one time after they’re acquired, as declared on the Epic Games help website. You can, however, buy the same sidekick multiple times, and can own several copies of the same sidekick as long as their customisation options are different. So, for example, you can own one red Lil Raptor, and one green Lil Raptor. You cannot own two green Lil Raptors.
Who doesn’t love pets in video games? Even if they are just cosmetics when you really think about it, a little fella running alongside you, doing tricks or dancing on command? It’s a surefire way to please people, and on Epic’s part, a nice way of tempting folks to spend a little extra this month on Fortnite.
