Epic's Fortnite Is An Artistic Departure From Gears of War

Gears of War developer Epic Games might have a reputation for highly detailed graphics based in realism, but its latest title shows the studio is capable of dramatically divergent art direction. Called Fortnite, the title is being teased in a new trailer released by the company on Saturday. The characters in the teaser are rendered in a style much more minimalistic and stylized than Epic's traditional photo-realistic depictions of humans, and could be described as cartoon-like. The trailer appears to show a game involving humans building strongholds out of garbage and various pieces of found material in order to defend themselves from inhuman creatures (such as the one pictured here) who come out at night. The company has not formally announced any further details about the title, including its target platforms. Epic's latest, shooter Gears of War 3, is one of the holiday season's premiere action-adventure titles currently commanding retail shelf space for Microsoft's Xbox 360. The game was released in September to critical acclaim and week-one sales in the neighborhood of 3 million. Epic also develops and supports the popular Unreal Engine 3 game engine.