Fortnitemares 2026 Is Live, Bringing Five Nights at Freddy’s Skins, Freddy Krueger Boss & Month Of Horror Collabs

Fortnite‘s annual Halloween event is back. Fortnitemares 2026 went live Thursday with update v42.30, bringing new weapons, a reworked map and a lineup of horror crossovers that will roll out throughout October.

Server downtime for the update began at 4 a.m. ET. On consoles, the update appears as patch 1.000.233. It is the earliest start for the event in years: Fortnitemares 2025 began Oct. 9, and the 2024 edition launched Oct. 12.

This year’s event runs under the tagline “The Game Is Cursed,” tying into the video game theme of the current season, Chapter 7 Season 4: Override.

Animatronics and a Nightmare Boss

The headline collaboration is with Five Nights at Freddy’s. Outfits based on the horror game’s animatronics hit the Item Shop as soon as the update went live, and Epic Games says they visually deteriorate as players take damage during matches.

“This October, Fortnitemares spreads corruption across Battle Royale, Horde Rush, and Reload with a cursed cast,” Epic said in its announcement, promising new characters all month from Five Nights at Freddy’s, Hazbin Hotel, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Beetlejuice, Obsession and more.

The official key art, revealed Sept. 28, also confirmed crossovers with Slender Man, Black Clover and The Purge.

Freddy Krueger arrives as a boss at a new Nightmare Neighborhood location on the map. Players who defeat him can claim a new weapon called Freddy’s Nightmare.

New Weapons, Overrides and Sprites

The event adds a new Bonerattler SMG, which can reveal enemies through walls. Several fan favorites also return, including the Wood Stake Shotgun, Dual Fiend Hunters, Witch Broom and Heavy Assault Rifle.

A new healing item, the Snack-O’-Lantern Gizmo, can be thrown to smash open and spill Exotic Candy on the ground.

Fortnitemares also introduces new cursed Override consoles, which build on the season’s power-up system. They include Spooky Sprinter, which lets players cloak while sprinting, and Berserk, which makes players hit harder as their health drops.

Sprites, the season’s companion creatures, are getting Halloween makeovers with the new Pumpkin Sprite and Vampire Sprite.

A Month of Content

The Horde Rush mode returns, and the map has been overhauled with Halloween-themed changes to several key areas, not just scattered decorations.

According to a content calendar compiled by Insider Gaming, A Nightmare on Elm Street content arrives Oct. 2, Black Clover on Oct. 3, Halloween Horror Nights on Oct. 5 and Hollow Knight on Oct. 7. A Reload Nightmare Island mode is set for Oct. 8, with two more Sprites on Oct. 15.

Fortnitemares serves as the Halloween send-off for Chapter 7 Season 4. The season is expected to end Nov. 1, when a mini-season is reportedly set to begin ahead of the launch of Chapter 8 in December.