Fortnite Battle Royale gets silenced in next event mode

While I'm not interested in Fortnite Battle Royale's arcade-y take on 100-player murderfests, I do like the look of some of the special event modes that developers Epic Games have tried. Fraser Brown enjoyed its 50v50 mode, and the next sounds... well, it sounds quiet. To celebrate this week's addition of a silenced pistol, over the weekend the 'Sneaky Silencers' mode will limit weapons to the suppressed pistol and SMG, while also "greatly" increasing the drop rate of the disguise that turns players into bushes. Probably not a mode for botanophobics.

The suppressed pistol arrived in Fortnite Battle Royale with yesterday's update. It's a pistol but quieter, yeah? And it does a few points more damage. It's only available as Epic and Legendary rarity, mind.

If you want to plink sneaky shots, you'll be showered with the suppressed pistol and its SMG sibling during the Sneaky Silencers event. That will begin this Friday, January 5th, then end on Monday the 8th. The rare bush disguise kits will be far more common too.

This sounds more of a fleeting novelty event than bigguns like 50v50 but it still seems a lark. With bushes galore and only silenced weapons, every shrub will fall under suspicion. Unlike Plunkbat's ghillie suit, Fortnite's bush disguise is dispelled as soon as the wearer takes damage, so I'm sure a lot of innocent bushes will receive a ballistic pruning this weekend.

While Fortnite, the base-building survival doodad this is built upon, still costs money, its Battle Royale mode is available free.

I do have a soft spot for games turning innocent decoration deadly. While I've still never got to play CrateDM, I have enjoyed Prop Hunt mods and modes across several games. Murderous video games train us to ignore the prettybits dressing the functional space of a level, and being forced to rethink that is a fun--and paranoid--challenge. If you're interested in such shenanigans, you might enjoy reading Robert Yang's a people's history of the prop hunt genre.

Still trying to get to grips with Fortnite? Check out our Fortnite guide hub for more tips and tricks for the game. You can also find the latest challenges in our Fortnite week 6 challenges guide.