Fortnite: Battle Royale data miners will be working overtime for the next week or so. They have a lot to uncover before season eight ends and season nine starts on May 8.
With today’s v8.51 update, everything data miners can uncover about the upcoming season should be somewhere in the game files. Players who like a sneak preview of what’s coming to Fortnite will have a blast, and data miners should leak a lot of things over the next week.
One of the major early leaks of the v8.51 update is a set of sound effects and visual models apparently related to the volcano eruption. Data miner HYPEX published a two-minute audio compilation of what they call “volcano/Loot Lake event sounds,” which is apparently part of the end of the Loot Lake hatch and runes event. These are sounds that should come with the giant blue sphere of energy and the six pillars of vaulted items revealed in another leak earlier this week.
Some of these sound parts might give us hints about what’s coming. Around the one-minute mark in that clip, we can hear the sound of epic synthesizers building up until something explodes, which could be part of an in-game cinematic. Right after that, a few sound effects imply that something’s opening or activating with pressurized air, which most likely is related to the Loot Lake metal hatch.
All of these sounds are most likely related to the hatch, but players should also worry about a menacing volcano on the other side of the map that seems ready to erupt and cover the Fortnite island in lava. Don’t panic, though. The lava probably won’t do anything. Huge volcano rocks will just fly through the sky and wreck your favorite points of interest, like Tilted Towers and Retail Row, which will likely be in flames and become ruins when season nine starts.
This seems inevitable at this point. HYPEX found 3D models for an object called “lava rock,” which seems to be the perfect size and shape to hit a huge building and bring it down. It also seems to be what will hit the Polar Peak iceberg, which has cracks in the new game files.
See? There’s no need to worry about the future of the Fortnite island. Everything will probably just be destroyed by the volcano or changed by the hidden powers of the Loot Lake hatch. When season nine starts, everything is going to be fine—we hope.
