Strange things have been happening in Fortnite as of late. What was once a relatively straightforward battle royale game with a fun, cartoonish feel has taken on a weird turn recently, complete with massive lightning storms and the bizarre appearance of a giant purple cube in the middle of the desert.

It all started with the launch of season 5 of Fortnite, which introduced temporal Rifts and a wealth of other features for the game to shake things up for players. As the season has gone on, however, things have got more and more odd, and this culminated in a large storm coming from a Rift in the sky in the desert, eventually resulting in the appearance of this mysterious purple cube.

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The arrival of the cube was thankfully captured, and can be seen below. With the Rift itself sealing and the cube left flickering with residual energy, Fortnite players have been left asking plenty of questions. Even though a 'cube' of some sort had been expected thanks to some nifty datamining, this wasn't exactly what anyone was expecting.

However, there are a few things we know about the cube itself. For starters, it is certainly tied to the Rift. Although the Rift in the desert biome has sealed, it seems as though the purple cube was its parting gift. As such, those other Rifts found in Fortnite might also pump out purple cubes as season 5 continues - who knows, maybe we'll even see a purple cube in real life.

Perhaps understandably, the first thing that Fortnite players who came across the cube did was investigate exactly how it can be interacted with. For now, there's not really much by way of interactivity, but there are still a handful of things that players can do with the cube. For starters, shooting at the cube - which was of course a default option to go to in a game such as Fortnite - resulted in it sending off sparks of electricity that can damage the player, perhaps a leftover of the lightning storm that spawned it.

That's not the only thing that the purple cube does, however. The cube is, bizarrely, bouncy, meaning that players who run into it or hit it with a pickaxe can be sent flying - again, perhaps sent flying so far that they can take damage. It's not all bad news for Fortnite users though, as simply standing next to the cube regenerates shields. If players are close enough, they'll also notice that the purple cube is covered in strange symbols as well.

Fortnite Purple Cube Lightning

Players have been keeping close tabs on the cube since it appeared, and as such any status changes are being called out quickly. At last note, the cube had actually moved, flipping down the cliff top ever so slightly. Exactly what this means remains to be seen, but it's keeping the interest of gamers for sure - even if Fortnite's growth is slowing down.

It's also up in the air as to what this cube means for Fortnite as a whole. Perhaps the most obvious answer is that it's going to result in some major end-of-season content for the game. Epic Games has always been keen to throw surprises and big changes at players, and the title's user base revels in this as seen by the theories surrounding the game's comet. As such, Fortnite fans should perhaps expect something big.

Whatever happens, it's bound to be the talk of plenty of gamers. After all, Fortnite is still perhaps the most popular mainstream game out there, with plenty of other titles looking enviously at the game's success. With challenges such as Call of Duty's Blackout ahead, perhaps these cubes play into Epic Games' strategy to stay on top.

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