Fortnite Chapter 5, Season 2 Battle Pass review, Cerberus

The Fortnite Chapter 5, Season 2 Battle Pass, “Myths and Mortals,” is finally here and with it comes a phalanx of brand-new Greek mythology-oriented characters, gear and cosmetics. But are Cerberus, Medusa, Zeus and the rest worthy enough to be immortalized in the pantheon of epic Fortnite skins?

This season’s first page skin reminds me of Renzo from Fortnite Chapter 4, Season 2 because it comes out of the gates hot. Literally. And that’s not just because Cerberus, the grim gatekeeper, is a character that’s engulfed in flames; as the bodyguard of Hades and the Underworld, Cerberus is a very visually striking skin, from his overall design to the details in his animations to the presentation of his glider.

First page for Cerberus from the Fortnite Chapter 5, Season 2 Battle Pass/Epic Games

Design and feel-wise, Cerberus is like an anthropomorphic version of Ghost Rider (coincidentally one of my favorite Fortnite skins) with a bit of The Burning Wolf mixed in; his body is ablaze with preternatural flame (though Cerberus’ is mint-jade and black instead of fiery-orange); he rides a flaming motorcycle named Shadow Bite into battle; he’s dressed in black and the shoulder pauldrons of his armor bear likenesses of his Anubis-like face, giving him the appearance of three heads in total (one of his mythological namesake’s defining characteristics); his pickaxe, a pair of huge claw-like wrist blades called the Shaderippers, create an afterimage of his claws after he uses them, like he’s shredding the very air around him; he has spiky hair like The Burning Wolf and he’s lean-muscled in build and stooped over, adding to his lycanthropic look. When he’s running, you can hear his bare paws padding over the terrain, his spiked-serpent tail vacillating behind him. Props to the Fortnite design team, as Cerberus’ looks and vibe as a modernized, doggo protector of Hades and the Underworld is well-executed.

There’s one other detail I appreciate about Cerberus, and that’s Shadow Bite, his motorcycle glider. Shadow Bite first emerges from a portal, spins around with a loud engine roar and fire belching from its quad exhaust and then Cerberus actually grips the footpegs and uses the top of the bike as a glider instead of surfboarding down on top of the bike like Ghost Rider or Thunder. The animation looks much more natural than those of the two motorcyclists I just mentioned and makes for a much more aesthetically pleasing drop from the Battle Bus. Until characters actually just sit down on their motorcycle seats as they glide down like they should, this is a decent first step.

Cerberus’ first page loading screen is illustrated by Inkpulp and it depicts Cerberus leaping out from the top of the stairs of the temple in the Underworld map location, Gatekeeper Shotgun in hand. He’s flanked by the hounds of Hades on either side, snarling, ferocious looking wolves/dogs whose glowing green eyes match those of Cerberus. The art does a good job portraying the feral nature of Cerberus with jagged linework – particularly in Cerberus’ razor-sharp jaws and even the supernatural flames burning from his body – and with lightning crackling on a shocking, rose-pink skyline.

Official art for Cerberus from Fortnite Chapter 5, Season 2/Epic Games

Of course, being based on Greek myth, Cerberus has big paws to fill, and as someone who always found the three-headed Cerberus to be a cool, menacing and unique monster in Greek mythology, it’s a little strange playing the character as a normal-sized humanoid. Just imagine how Shadows of the Colossus-esque epic of a boss fight Cerberus could have been if they had made him a full-on monster. I understand why they went the route they did, but still – it’s interesting to wonder what if with Cerberus given his usual depictions in mythology. (I guess for a more lore-accurate depiction, I’ll always have the Cerberus glider, right?)

Notwithstanding, Cerberus is a wild, well-designed, and menacing-looking introduction to the Fortnite Chapter 5, Season 2 Battle Pass from his feralistic, modernized design to his pickaxe claws to his motorcycle glider. I can see why Epic chose Cerberus as the introductory skin to the Fortnite Chapter 5, Season 2 Battle Pass as it was a skin that grabbed my attention right away and I’m sure it will do the same for many other Fortnite players as well.