Fortnite Summer Escape Event Starts Today With A Ton Of Free Cosmetics

Every year, the Fortnite summer event becomes one of the game’s biggest and most beloved attractions, and this year’s Summer Escape event may result in more of that same fervor. With many free cosmetics to earn from event challenges, two new breezy skins coming to the shop, a bonus reward for Fortnite Crew members, and some island makeovers, here’s everything you need to know about Fortnite Summer Escape.

Map change: Sunswoon Lagoon

In the thick of this season’s jungle biome, a new temporary party headquarters has cropped up. Sunswoon Lagoon will be present on the island until the event ends on July 18. While much of the season has been built on opening seemingly ancient vaults and introducing the Transformers to Forntite’s catch-all mythos, loopers look primed to take it easy for a few days.

Gameplay changes: Ice cream buffs and fireworks flare gun return

If you’ve participated in past summer events in Fortnite, you’re likely familiar with the ice cream cone items, a lineup of different flavors that grant heals and other buffs, like low-gravity jumping. The full freezer of flavors returns in the form of Normal Ice Cream Cone, Frozen Ice Cream Cone, Guzzling Ice Cream Cone, Spicy Ice Cream Cone, and LiL Whip’s Special Serve.

Additionally, the flare gun will get a makeover and adds the summer-exclusive fireworks effect when fired into the sky. Now you can ping enemies or enjoy the light show–or why not both?

Summer Escape challenges and free cosmetics

It wouldn’t be a Fortnite event without a bundle of in-game quests doling out a bunch of new character cosmetics, like back bling, a glider, and more. For Summer Escape, nine free rewards await those who complete a series of challenges over the course of the two-week event. They’re broken up into different categories, with a new set becoming available every few days. Here’s the schedule:

• Quech Quests: Progressively available between July 4-7
• Lagoon Party Quests: Progressively available between July 8-11
• Make an Entrance Quests: Progressively available between July 12-16

In addition to universal XP rewards, players will also unlock the Nanners wrap for the first set, the Treezy back bling for the second set, and the Blossoms Drop contrail for the third set. Additionally, accumulating event-wide quest completions will unlock even more, including the Wild Fronds back bling for 14 completed quests, the Bugsy glider for 18 completed quests, and the Toasted Coconut emote (inspired by that one Leo DiCaprio gif) and the Lagoon Escape loading screen for 24 completed quests.

If all that wasn’t enough, even more free rewards can be had when you complete specific (and very simple) quests:

• Destroy 10 stones – Artifact Axe pickaxe
• Mantle within 30 seconds of busting through a door: Starry Sea wrap

As always, we’ll have guides on site for any and all challenges that may stump you as the event unfolds.

Summer Showdown in Creative mode

For those looking for summer vibes outside of the game’s main attraction, Creative mode features the Summer Showdown series of Epic-curated islands made by the community. Head into the game’s Discover tab to browse some of the many new player-made modes the developer-publisher is teaming with for this year’s summer event.

New summer skins and Fortnite Crew bonus

Two more skins have been revealed for this year’s summer event item shop, too. Opal, a brand-new character to the lore; and Chaos Explorer, a deep sea diving-themed reimagining of an earlier character, will debut in the item shop during the event. They will surely be flanked by past years’ summer event skins too, like the ever-popular Beach Midas and Beach Jules.

The challenges for Purradise Meowscles, the latest midseason battle pass skin, will also go live during the event, giving battle pass owners even more challenges to chase and cosmetics to unlock. Meanwhile, Fortnite Crew members will unlock an exclusive bonus item, the Nanner Buddy back bling.

When does Fortnite Summer Escape end?

This year’s summer party ends on July 18 at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET. Be sure to complete any related quests before then, as once the event ends they will disappear from the game–and so will the ability to unlock the cosmetics tied to them.