The main distinction from others in the genre is the game's construction elements, letting players build walls, obstacles, and other structures from collected resources to take cover from incoming fire or give one a strategic view advantage. The last player or team alive wins the match. As the match progresses, the playable area within the island gradually constricts, giving the players less and less room to work with outside this safe zone is 'the Storm', which inflicts damage on those caught inside it, with the amount of damage growing as the Storm itself does.

Players can fight alone, or with up to four other players. The concept of the game is similar to previous games of the genre: 100 players skydive onto an island and scavenge for gear to defend themselves from other players. Versions for the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 were released as launch titles in late 2020. The following year, Epic dropped the early access label for the game on June 29, 2020. It was initially released in early access on September 26, 2017, for macOS, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, followed by ports for iOS, Nintendo Switch, and Android.

It is a companion game to Fortnite: Save the World, a cooperative survival game with construction elements.