I want to begin by making one thing absolutely clear: It’s perfectly fine to enjoy Fortnite. Many cool people love Fortnite — I mean, Chappell Roan even plays it. It’s undeniably a game with lots of merit that’s had a huge impact on the gaming ecosystem. I, however, am not a Fortnite enjoyer, and fully resent the fact I have to play it in order to explore the world of The Simpsons, which is one of my all-time favorite television shows (the first 10 or so seasons, anyway).
For a bit of background, I am not only a non-Fortnite player, but a non-shooter player in general. I much prefer turn-based combat and the ability to mull over my choices, rather than fighting for my life while full of panic as bullets come at me from all directions — I already have enough anxiety, I don’t need an entire server full of people whose collective goal is to eliminate me. Soon after the new Fortnite update released, I hopped into the game, and was just as quickly full of regrets.
I dropped into the map close to the Simpson household, as it was one of the areas I was most eager to explore. I was honestly very impressed with the detail of the house, and very amused by the fact I could get into a fight with Marge. However, just as I’d started really digging into the details of my surroundings and enjoying myself, the shrinking map meant I had to leave. This was a pattern that would repeat several more times over the course of the match, in between segments of pure combat-induced panic.
It would be a different story if there was any way to explore the map in a non-combative mode that doesn’t incorporate a constantly-shrinking battle zone. Fortnite used to have a Battle Lab mode which allowed players to traverse the map freely, but the feature was axed in 2022. As far as I can tell, in 2025, the only possible way I could freely load into the Springfield Fortnite map is by starting a private match, which requires the player to be a member of one of the game’s content creator programs.
As someone who has desperately desired remakes of The Simpsons: Hit and Run and The Simpsons: Road Rage for as long as I can remember, my first thought when I saw the in-game footage of the new map was how reminiscent it was of those titles. With neither of those remakes being on the table, The Simpsons island in Fortnite is the best approximation I’m going to get any time soon. The worst part is that the new map seems to genuinely be made with a lot of attention to detail and love for the series — I just wish that I could actually experience it.
