Fortnite Chapter 2, Season 2 teasers hint at map changes and a "TakeOver"

The launch of Fortnite Chapter 2 was one of the biggest gaming of 2019 for the battle royale after an in-game event destroyed the universe, so the upcoming start of Fortnite Chapter 2, Season 2 is this decade's biggest transition so far. Epic Games began teasing the new season with a cryptic Monday morning tweet, and as some kind of encoded message is decrypted, fans have come to expect some interesting map changes, vehicle additions, and lots of ... gold?

Epic Games tweets a mysterious series of images before the launch of every new season, offering fans several teasers about what to expect in the near-future, and Chapter 2's second season is no different. By late Tuesday morning, a total of four images had been shared.

The tweets are presented as redacted transmissions at first before slowly revealing more over the course of a day. The image in the first series of tweets on Monday ended up taking the form of a man in a facemask alongside some golden shards showing images of a base while also confirming Season 2's start date of February 20.

In anticipation of this new season, Fortnite's official accounts and these teaser images have been given a somewhat retro gold and black color scheme that's both visually striking and intriguing. Surrounding this man in a mask is a bunch of variations of the word henchman or thug. The golden shards next to him also suggest that some map changes are coming.

That face isn't the only intercepted transmission either: a message accompanying an image of Dynamite was shared early Tuesday morning, followed by another in the early afternoon showing a small propane tank. The first image features variations on the word danger, so volatile changes might be in store. For one thing, this seemingly confirms that Dynamite will return as a throwable item after being vaulted in a June 2019 update. These two images, in particular, put the focus on explosives in the new season.

This drip-feed of teasers will likely only continue as we get closer to a February 20 launch date, but already they've led to plenty of speculation.

One Reddit user, rjt05221981, has a lengthy theory about how the next season will involve a significant connection between the island's nuclear power plant and the creation of gold. He also references an older leak by Newsweek suggesting that Agent Meowscules and Fishstick will be at the focus of next season.

More probable info regarding this new chapter of Fortnite comes from leaker HypeX, who datamined the Epic Games Launcher and found the name "TakeOver," which may be the official title for Season 2, Chapter 2. Eurogamer also noticed that the golden shards in the teaser images seem to show a military base, which HypeX believes will be added to the island in the middle of Fortnite's map. Helicopter pads can also be seen in the shard images, so many think that helicopters may finally be coming to Fortnite in the new season, which would be the first aircraft to appear since the X-4 Stormwing was vaulted in February 2019.

Previous ambitious forms of travel like the mecha and boats make a helicopter seem totally possible — and wickedly exciting if true for the new season. Other hints indicate new locations in different parts of the map, including what might be some kind of cruise ship off one of the coastlines.

Epic Games has often been willing to take some interesting risks with new seasons, making various changes with each new season. While Fortnite Chapter 2, Season 2 won't be nearly as drastic as the launch of Chapter 2, we'll know for sure later this week what it will entail.

Fortnite Chapter 2, Season 2 launches Thursday, February 20, 2020.