Fortnite is adding the sword from Infinity Blade, and changing its map again
UPDATE: Patch notes confirm it's a one-time drop.
UPDATE 11/12/18: Today's patch notes confirm the Infinity Blade will indeed be a one-off weapon available every match from the newly-opened up Polar Peak, the Ice King's lair. Just one player will be able to wield the sword at any time, just as Fortnite's Thanos event featured the Infinity Gauntlet earlier in the year.
Sword slashes will deal 75 damage, while the weapon's alternate fire will allow you to leap large distances and destroy objects, with a smaller 25 damage upon landing. Anyone wielding the sword will gain 200 health and shield and constant regeneration. If they are defeated, the sword will drop for others to pick up instead.
Patch 7.01, which introduces all of this, is available to download now.
ORIGINAL STORY 10/12/18: Fortnite has teased the addition of a new sword weapon, and a fresh change to its snowy map area.
We've seen this fancy new sword before - in the teaser artwork for the new Fortnite season 7, and then again in its introductory video. It looks like the blade of the Ice King, the season's top tier character unlock, who you can see pulling the blade sword-from-stone-style in the teaser below:
Does the sword look familiar from somewhere else? It seems identical to the titular weapon of Infinity Blade - the mobile game made by Fortnite's own Epic a few years back. Is it just a nod to Epic's past?
Regardless, the teaser also shows a big change to the game's snow area. Where its castle peak is only poking out of the snow right now, expect a full castle and courtyard, where the sword will be located.
Sound files for a sword weapon were previously found in the game's files (separate to those swords which exist in Fortnite's Save the World mode). And the existence of a hidden area to be revealed later has also been snooped - see this video below, which shows a layout identical to the one in the teaser above:
So how will the sword work? That's the one thing we don't know. Will it be a regular item anyone can pick up, or will it be a one-off power up like Thanos' Infinity Gauntlet, which guest-starred in Fortnite earlier in the year?