Yesterday, after 1,410 days (or 3 years and 10 months) the Grim Medicine cosmetic set—complete with the fashionable Plague Doctor skin—returned to Fortnite’s in-game store, letting players bargain it for the archetypal clip since the commencement of the covid-19 pandemic. And galore judge it was the pandemic itself that kept the plague-themed items and skins retired of the crippled for specified a agelong play of time.

I uncertainty I request to explicate Fortnite to you, but conscionable truthful everyone’s connected the aforesaid page: Epic’s Fortnite is a free-to-play conflict royale PVP shooter disposable connected astir each modern level retired there. It supports crossplay crossed each of them and for the past fewer years has been 1 of the astir fashionable games successful the satellite arsenic it continues to grow and see much characters from different franchises, similar Star Wars, Dragonball Z, and Street Fighter.

But Fortnite also has plentifulness of its ain archetypal skins and cosmetic items too, like Peely and the antecedently mentioned Plague Doctor. But until yesterday, these plague-related items hadn’t appeared successful the crippled since March 1, 2019, making them highly rare, arsenic the lone radical who could usage them were folks who bought them backmost erstwhile they were past available. Meanwhile, astir different skins look again and again successful the store each fewer weeks oregon months.

Fans had theorized that the Grim Medicine cosmetic acceptable had been blacklisted and retired by Epic owed to the covid-19 pandemic. This makes sense, arsenic including those skins during the tallness of the deadly pandemic that has killed implicit 6 cardinal radical worldwide arsenic of January 2023 would person been a atrocious look.

G/O Media whitethorn get a commission

Up to $100 credit

Samsung Reserve

Reserve the adjacent gen Samsung device
All you request to bash is motion up with your email and boom: recognition for your preorder connected a caller Samsung device.

The moving mentation is that the tegument popped up successful the store connected March 1, 2019. Then earlier it could look again successful the store, covid-19 was detected successful Wuhan, China successful December 2019 and yet dispersed astir the world, officially becoming a pandemic according to the World Health Organization connected March 11, 2020. It’s not unreasonable that Epic saw this happening and decided to propulsion the plague-themed items from the store’s rotation successful bid to debar immoderate controversy.

The happening is, Epic has ne'er officially confirmed this mentation astatine immoderate point. Kotaku has reached retired astir the tegument and the agelong spread successful clip betwixt it showing up, but didn’t perceive backmost from the company. Still, adjacent if Epic hasn’t officially confirmed the crushed for the Grim Medicine items going missing for astir 4 years, the covid-19 mentation doesn’t look unreasonable to me. And careless of why, galore players were excited to spot it return, adjacent if lone to marque a gag astir its agelong absence. Or to constituent retired that covid-19 is inactive a happening successful 2023, which it is, and it’s inactive deadly and dangerous, too.

“One of my friends IMMEDIATELY dropped wealth into the crippled upon getting this notification. He’s been waiting since it was past successful the shop,” tweeted 1 person. “LETS GOOOO! I yet got PLAGUE!!! I wanted him for 2 years,” tweeted different subordinate upon seeing the quality of the Plague Doctor’s return to Fortnite. Of course, determination were different players who recovered it comic everybody was excited implicit the skin, and others who owned it already and were present bittersweet to spot their erstwhile uncommon tegument go communal erstwhile more.

Personally, I’m not excited astir the Grim Medicine skins arsenic I don’t truly similar however they look. And besides, I lone similar to bargain the astir cursed and bizarre skins successful Fortnite, similar Mr. Meeseeks from Rick and Morty.