Fortnite players may soon be able to swim underwater

Fortnite leakers have uncovered a new animation for swimming underwater following the V12.41 update patch – but is it a new mechanic or a part of an upcoming in-game event?

The V12.41 Fortnite update went live on April 21, though it wasn’t the game-changing patch that some fans might have been hoping for. Instead, it was jam-packed with content gearing up for the Travis Scott Astronomical event, a new limited-time mode called Arsenic, as well as fixing a few lingering bugs.

Though, the new content did give leakers plenty of files to unpack and dig through – as they were able to find the new Travis Scott icon series skin, accompanying backblings, glider, sprays, and harvesting tool. Yet, they are also stumbled upon an interesting new animation that has fans asking plenty of questions.

The animation was tweeted out by Skin-Tracker showing a Jonesy skin appearing to swim underwater – something that you aren’t really able to do now outside of diving down in order to grab a speed boost. 

• Read More: How to watch Fortnite Travis Scott’s Astronomical event: Start times, skin, more

What was shown by Skin-Tracker is different from the usual swimming animation that players currently see in-game, leading players to suggest that Epic Games are dropping a whole new mechanic in the near future. 

However, the exciting prospect of being able to fight players underwater doesn’t appear to be something that Epic is actually considering right now.

• Read More: Travis Scott’s Astronomical Fortnite challenges & rewards leaked

Reliable leaker iFireMonkey posted the ‘Gameplay Cues’ for the Astronomical event and, spoiler alert, one of the final ones indeed relates to going Underwater. 

Of course, while the animation is almost certainly going to play a role in the live event, the fact that Epic have worked on could mean that it is something they might introduce in the future. 

We’ll just have to see how the Astronomical event plays out first and what the developers have got in store for us after that. Only time will tell.