Fortniteis heading into a new season and the Cubes have taken over the island. After the massive season 7-ending Operation: Sky Fire event, where Dr. Slone betrayed the island’s defenders, the Cubes are spreading across the island. But no one knows why.

The arrival of this new threat on the island provides most of the mechanical changes for Fortnite Chapter 2 season 8. The new season includes changes to points of interest, new realities to explore, and augmented weapons.

One of the big new additions for season 8 is The Sideways, a new dimension that features lower gravity and various obstacles that make building a little harder. This should encourage players who are inside to always stay on the move. The Sideways also has a few new weapons, like the Sideways rifle and the Sideways minigun, which give an extra-dimensional twist to classic Fortnite guns.

The Sideways can be accessed with portals, called Sideways Anomalies, that are spread around the island. The new dimension is spreading around the map and will create a new Sideways Zone at various POIs around the island each game.

The new season also brings in several smaller Cubes that spread their influence around the map, changing the environment and dropping Shadow Stones, which let players turn into Shadow beings, unable to shoot or be shot. The Cubes have also created Cube Monsters, which will attack players when they see them.

Image: Epic Games

Finally, the new season adds the War Effect, a feature that encourages players to work together and gather resources in order to build defenses, unvault weapons, and defend against the alien invaders. We know that the first thing you’ll have to build are Turret Stations. Players can donate Gold Bars to specific construction sites around the map, and if the turret gets funded it should be unvaulted.

Fortnite’s new season has already started, with all of these changes going live, along with the game’s new battle pass, and a new season-opening cinematic that shows off the Cube’s full-blown takeover of the island. These are only a few of the biggest changes in Fortnite Chapter 2 season 8, you can find all of the changes on Epic’s Fortnite blog.