After making a head-banging grand entrance to the game a few weeks ago, Metallica is finally premiering their Metallica: Fuel. Fire. Fury. concert event in Fortnite this weekend. The first showing of the new interactive musical experience was available to play at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 22, and invited fans to join Metallica on an apocalyptic trip through their discography. All four members of the band appeared throughout the event, with five songs in total performed for their Fortnite audience.
Metallica: Fuel. Fire. Fury. begins at an abandoned gas station in the desert, a lobby-of-sorts for friends to join in and ready up before the event begins. Upon starting, James, Lars, Kirk, and Robert hop into their car and peel out, and you’re instructed to get to the Metallica show as you’re teleported to a lava-ridden hellscape, trailing behind the band in a Rocket Racing mini-game where you dodge explosions and make dangerous jumps while listening to their song “Lux Æterna.” As the track ends, the ground opens up beneath you and shoots you into the air, where you are then removed from your vehicle and begin gliding into a packed Metallica concert.
You arrive at the show to find Metallica mid-performance of their song “Hit The Lights” as a massive crowd of NPCs dance and headbang to the heavy metal rockers in a dark volcanic landscape. Giant holograms of the band appear behind the stage as players get a front row seat to the show, but it’s quickly cut short as a massive medieval spire emerges from the ground, sending the concert high into the sky.
As Metallica teleport across the level playing a performance of “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” players are told to “ascend the clock tower” and perform a series of platforming challenges while avoiding giant bells and endless gaps. As players make their way up the increasingly-volatile tower, they eventually arrive at a huge dark mass of energy, from which a massive evil hand reaches out and grabs everybody, pulling them in to the next section of the experience.
Players are instructed to “grind the lightning” as they descend deeper into the unknown, rail-grinding on six strings of a guitar and jumping between them to play a makeshift rhythm game while avoiding certain doom and listening to the bridge of the hit track “Master of Puppets.” Upon reaching the bottom, a health bar appears on the bottom of the screen and the squad is tasked with defeating the Master of Puppets, a gargantuan boss monster with multiple arms and eyes. Players are given an assault rifle and must shoot the beast’s weak spots while the song crescendos into madness and mayhem.
Upon defeating the Master of Puppets, your squad is granted a private show from Metallica themselves, allowing you to jam and rage to the rock concert in your own hellish mosh pit while the band plays their final track “Enter Sandman.” Piles of booming amps, fleets of laser lights, and huge flumes of fire erupt around the band as they rock out on a ruined stage in the middle of an active volcano. Hordes of fans can be heard cheering as the cameras zooms out and fades to black, and players are returned to the gas station. The band’s car is now available to sit in for a photo-op with friends, and teleporters are available to transport players to Fortnite Festival with a multitude of Metallica tracks available to choose from freely.
The Metallica: Fuel. Fire. Fury. event will be available to experience in Fortnite a total of five more times this weekend: free showings at 5 p.m. ET and 11 p.m. ET are available on Saturday, June 22, and three more free showings are available at 10 a.m., 2 p.m., and 5 p.m. ET on Sunday, June 23.