Since launch, Fortnite Festival has been a neat mode to tinker around with, but I didn't care enough about their previous collaborations to buy the mode-specific pass. I have nothing against Lady Gaga or Billie Eilish (I don't particularly care for TheWeeknd, though), but I'm not enraptured by their discographies like Metallica.

Having a good "Festival Pass" is a double-edged sword because it's nice to have exclusive skins and instruments, but it does feel gross to lock so much of this stuff behind a $20 purchase, including massively popular songs by these artists. On the other hand, I have done nothing but reinforce this model because "One" is one of my favorite Metallica songs, and I find the skins goofy enough to use in other modes.

The current Festival season is a blast to play, but I still have lingering issues with the comfort of playing the game mode with a standard controller. The fresh Metallica songs do not alleviate this complaint, as these are now some of the game's wildest and most complex tracks. Adding in additional guitar peripheral support seemed to be a blessing to me. Still, sadly, the mode only supports Rockband 4 legacy sets, at least on console (I have a PS3 Rockband 2 setup), so I'm stuck on a standard controller unless I can work my magic to get the guitars I have working on PC.