Could Fortnite’s leaked respawn system be another Apex Legends inspired feature?

Season 8 in Fortnite Battle Royale has added a lot of new content and features into the game, and there appears to be a whole lot more on the horizon.

On February 28, after the v8.00 had gone live in Fortnite, players began noticing mysterious vans located at various points throughout the map.

These vans appear to be the result of a visual bug as they are only visible in Replay mode and not when playing the game’s regular playlists. 

The most eye-catching aspect of these vans is that they contain some sort of beacon on top which display a glowing hologram of a skin.

• Read More: Fortnite leak suggests upgraded Infantry Rifle coming soon

This has sparked major speculation that a player respawn system is coming soon to Fortnite, and these vans will play a central role in that new feature.

Further fueling this speculation are certain game files that have been found and leaked by data-miners since the release of the v8.00 update.

Called ‘Second_Chance_Van’ and ‘SecondChance_Card_Pickup,’ these files strongly hit at these new vans being exactly what players are thinking they are.

How does the player respawn feature work?

The player respawn system was first introduced to the battle royale genre by Apex Legends, and it has been received very positively by many players.

The way it works is it allows players to respawn teammates back into a match, even if they’ve been fully eliminated by an enemy player. In order to respawn a fallen teammate, players need to retrieve their ‘beacons’ and take them to one of the many respawn points located on the map.

At this point, the previously eliminated player gets returned to the map and has to start looting up again as they no longer have the inventory from before their death. 

Why is the player respawn feature so popular?

One of the more frustrating things in battle royale, and especially Fortnite, is getting downed and then fully eliminated by an enemy player that then gets wiped out by your teammates.

With a player respawn system in place, you will no longer have to deal with that annoyance as your teammates can then pick up your beacon, or in Fortnite’s case, “card,” and take it to a respawn van, where you will be respawned back into the match. 

It must be said that these leaks come as no major surprise as many players were assuming that Epic Games would eventually be inspired by the feature’s popularity in Apex Legends and add it into Fortnite.

If it does get added, it will be the second new mechanic in Season 8 that will have originated in Apex Legends, with the new World Marker ‘ping’ system being the first.

Make sure to follow us on Twitter @Dexerto for up-to-date Fortnite news, updates, leaks, and more!