Fortnite’s New ‘Cuddles & Chaos’ Event Hands Out Free Loot While Betting Big On Pet Sidekicks

Epic Games has kicked off Cuddles and Chaos, a limited-time Fortnite event running through August 25 designed to spotlight a new category of player-made islands built entirely around companion creatures, while dangling a stack of free cosmetics as an incentive to check them out.

The event marks the latest step in a companion-creature concept Epic has revisited more than once. Back in 2018’s Chapter 1 Season 6, the studio first experimented with pets, but those early versions were little more than cosmetic back accessories with a few charming animations, and the feature quietly disappeared after a limited rollout.

Epic returned to the idea seven years later, launching true sidekicks in November: free-roaming companions invisible to opposing players that trail alongside their owner through a match, complete with customizable looks and a points system for unlocking extra outfits. Cuddles and Chaos builds on that foundation by giving map creators dedicated tools to design entire “creature games” — Creative islands built specifically around sidekick mechanics rather than treating the pets as an afterthought.

Finding the new content requires navigating to the Discovery tab within Play mode, scrolling to Game Collections, and selecting the Cuddles and Chaos category. From there, players can browse two tiers of highlighted content: “Exceptional Creature Games,” currently spotlighting maps like Sidekick Wars and Sidekick Masters, and a broader “Creature Standouts” section featuring titles such as Astropets Tycoon and Pets vs Brainrots.

The event’s headline giveaway is the Panda Team Jr. sidekick, obtainable entirely free by working through a set of Cuddles and Chaos-branded quests tied to the featured maps — no purchase or premium currency required. Reports on the quest requirements have varied slightly, with some outlets citing four objectives needed to unlock the reward and others pointing to a longer eight-quest track for additional cosmetic bonuses.

Progress has hit a snag in the meantime: Epic reportedly disabled the quests shortly after launch following reports that completing them was triggering game crashes, and the studio hasn’t yet given a timeline for restoring them.

For now, players eager to claim the free sidekick may need to wait out the fix, though the broader event — and Epic’s renewed bet on pets as a lasting Fortnite feature — remains live through the end of August.