Fortnite is back into costume with Fortnitemares 2022, and that means candy can be found all around the map like it is every year. You’ll want to locate Fortnite candy for a number of reasons–most often to simply enjoy their buffs to speed, jumping, and more–but also some Fortnitemares quests will demand you find candy at times, too. This year, one such quest asks you to apply the Zero Point Pretzel effect to yourself three times. Here’s how to do that easily, as well as where to find candy generally.

Fortnite Zero Point Pretzel effect

Zero Point Pretzels act just like Zero Point fish by giving you a few seconds of a dash technique, making you harder to hit when under fire, while adding a bit of speed to your looper, too. Simply eating a pretzel will give you this ability for about 30 seconds, but they don’t stack, so if you’re trying to complete the challenge to apply the effect three times, you should wait for each effect to wear off before applying it again.

The easiest way to find Zero Point Pretzels specifically is to buy them from Chrome Punk, a new pumpkin-headed NPC who showed up alongside the Fortnitemares update. We’ve got all NPCs mapped and listed in our NPC locations guide for your convenience. You can find Chrome Punk at the Flutter Barn near the center of the map. He sells Zero Point Pretzels, so bring some gold and you’ll be all set.

If someone beats you to it and buys out his supply, you’ll need to find candy buckets instead. For that, keep on reading.

Fortnite candy locations

Fortnite candy is typically found outside residences all over the island every October. However, the current map has surprisingly few residential settings, making the candy buckets seem a bit rarer this season. Still, there are a few reliable places we’ve been using to collect candy when we need it.

The best spot is at Willow’s cabin in the west coast of the map. Just be ready for a boss fight–Willow prefers tricks over treats, apparently. If your Battle Bus trajectory isn’t conducive to heading there, you can also reliably find a few buckets of candy inside The Joneses, specifically along the elevated rope bridge in the western side of the location. For a spot more centered, try the lonesome blue house just west of Herald’s Sanctum.

There are plenty of houses inside Greasy Grove, the only major residential drop this season, and you’ll find candy there sporadically, but not as much as you might expect based on past Fortnitemares events, and it seems to move with each round. For reliability, we like heading to Willow’s house best of all.

Candy types and their uses

There are several types of candy in Fortnite, and each one provides a different benefit. There’s not one candy you can eat that applies a harmful effect, though some are better or worse depending on your situation and playstyle. Here’s a list of all Fortnite candies and what they do on a per-item basis.

Trick or treat!Candy Corn – Gives 1 health per second up to 10 healthJelly Bean – Instantly gives 10 total HP across health (priority) and shieldsZero Point Pretzel – Gives temporary “Zero Point” dash effectHop Drop – Gives temporary low-gravity jumping ability, negating fall damagePepper Mint – Grants temporary speed boostThermal Taffy – Gives temporary thermal vision

For more on Fortnitemares, don’t miss our boss battle guide for The Inkquisitor, a trailer for this year’s festivities, and a look at the new Howler Claws weapon.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

The only thing easier in Minecraft than punching a tree is getting lost. You found the coolest river, the richest cave… but you can’t remember where your house is. At the beginning, you just have to be careful, but as the game progresses your options for making sure you know where you are in your Minecraft world multiply. Here’s what you need to know about navigation and finding your way around in Minecraft.

The Basics: Paths, Directions, and Signs

The kids in fairy tales did it, and you can, too. Instead of leaving a trail of breadcrumbs, though, you can do something better. Put those torches in your inventory to work by using them to mark your path as you explore. However, it can be hard sometimes to see where a group of torches is pointing. To help that, get out your shovel and use its alternate function on the ground. With nothing more than a shovel, you can make a good-looking and highly functional path.

Minecraft doesn’t have cardinal directions like North and South in the game canonically, but the sun and moon always rise in one direction and set in the other, so you can decipher where North, South, East and West are. Keep those in mind as you build and explore.

And if all else fails, signs are easy to make in huge numbers. Putting down informative signs that make use of the various “arrow” characters (^, V, <, and >) can be enough to get you anywhere.

Make a Compass

But you shouldn’t have to be doing a bunch of work or paying careful attention to find your way home. There are easier options once you start to collect more materials.

The compass is perhaps the simplest to build and use. By default, this compass will point back to the world spawn–the place you first appear when you log in. This ensures that no matter where you go, you can at least find your way back to that point. The further away you move your base of operations from the world spawn, though, the less convenient this gets. Even that problem can be solved, though, with a Lodestone–more on that further down. Regardless, this simple tool gives you a foolproof way to get back to the world spawn point no matter how far you’ve gone.

Make a Map

A compass will always get you back to its origin point, but it won’t get you back to that rad cave you found when you were out exploring. A map, on the other hand, will. To make a map, you’ll need nine pieces of paper, which you can get by harvesting Sugar Cane and taking it to a crafting table. Mapping can consume a lot of paper, so you’ll probably want a few stacks–but nine is the way to start. By creating a map and activating it, you’ll end up with a basic map of the area you’re currently in, which you can then uncover on the map by walking around in the space covered by that map. But that’s just the start–maps are incredibly useful items when you know what to do with them.

Make a Locator Map

The next level after creating a basic map is to create a locator map. This takes 8 pieces of paper and a compass. What you end up with is a map just like the one above, but now you and any other players on your server will show up on the map, including which direction each player is facing in real-time. If they’re off the edge of the map, they’ll show up along the map’s edge, giving you a way to help your friends navigate back home even if they’re lost.

How to Zoom Maps

The final form of a map is to create a zoomed-out map. There are five levels of map zoom:

Level 0/4 : 256 blocksLevel 1/4 : 512 blocksLevel 2/4 : 768 blocksLevel 3/4 : 1024 blocksLevel 4/4 : 1280 blocks

You’ll need a Cartography Table to get started, which requires four wooden planks and two sheets of paper. Then you can take your 0-zoom map–locator or not–and drop that in the top slot of the Cartography Table. Put a sheet of paper in the bottom slot and then take out the resulting product for a Zoom Level 1 map. Do that again four more times to get a Zoom Level 4 map.

As an aside, these maps make great art when mounted on a frame, and can be a great way to remind yourself of all the stuff you’ve created in your Minecraft world.

Make a Lodestone

Another useful item you can make is one we hinted at above, the Lodestone. This is the most advanced of these, as it requires a Netherite Ingot, which you get by mining Ancient Debris from the Nether. You’ll also need a Stonecutter to make a set of 8 Chiseled Stone blocks.

Place a Lodestone anywhere and then use a compass on it, and that compass will then point to the Lodestone instead of the world spawn. This is especially useful in the Nether and The End, where compasses do not work by default. If you place a Lodestone in one of those dimensions and sync a compass with it, that compass will stop going haywire and instead point to the Lodestone. Drop that Lodestone by your entry point and you can always get back home, even in those dangerous dimensions.

Lodestones are even useful in the Overworld, though. You might find a spot for your base of operations far away from the world spawn. By dropping a Lodestone there and syncing with it, you can ensure that you can always get back home.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

Ark: Ultimate Survivor Edition for Nintendo Switch has been delayed due to “unprecedented environmental circumstances” in developer Studio Wildcard’s home state in Redmond, Washington. Wildfires in the Pacific Northwest are taking a toll on the region with evacuation orders in effect for some localities. The game is developed by Grove Street Games in Gainesville, Florida, but Studio Wildcard has offices in both Washington and Florida.

The game was originally set to launch on October 25 but is now coming in “very early” November in North America and shortly thereafter in the EU.

The Ultimate Survivor Edition is an overhaul to Ark: Survival Evolved that promises to “vastly” improve the visual quality and performance of the game on Switch. Players can also expect reduced load times and a number of quality-of-life updates to improve the experience.

The game also comes with all previously released expansions, including the unfortunately titled Scorched Earth at launch. The Aberration, Extinction, and Genesis Parts 1 & 2 expansions will come later.

The game also boasts a Switch-exclusive mode called Dinosaur Discovery. Described as a child-friendly mode, Dinosaur Discovery has no violence and instead has players learning more about real dinosaurs.

This isn’t the first time a video game’s development has been affected by a natural disaster. Earlier this year, the developers of EA’s Madden series–who are based in Florida–warned that content for Madden NFL 23 might be delayed due to Hurricane Ian.

Ark’s Ultimate Survivor Edition was initially released last year across other platforms. A sequel, Ark 2, is in development now with Vin Diesel involved.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

Few video game franchises have been as revolutionary as Metal Gear over the decades, a series that has consistently reinvented itself to offer fresh and exciting twists on tactical espionage action. From the original game that prioritized stealth in an era where action games ruled supreme, to the groundbreaking rebirth of the series that paved the way for cinematic video games, the brainchild of Hideo Kojima has never been short on surprises.

35 years later, the Metal Gear series is a legendary showcase of creative design, intense showdowns, and storylines that helped prove that video games could be cinematic powerhouses. Grab your favorite cardboard box, sneak in for a covert op, and grab some intel on the best Metal Gear Solid games to make the cut in GameSpot’s list. Our list is organized from worst to best. We excluded a couple of mobile games and the non-canon Snake’s Revenge, but almost the entire franchise is represented here.

For more game rankings, you can check out our features on the best Final Fantasy, Lord of the Rings, and Pokemon games.

18. Metal Gear Survive

Metal Gear Survive

The Metal Gear franchise’s most recent game is… well, quite bad. In the shadow of Hideo Kojima’s departure from Konami, the publisher attempted to prove that the Metal Gear franchise could survive without the visionary behind it, but this spin-off proved otherwise. Metal Gear Survive was an interesting departure from the usual MGS formula, but it was a chore to play, frustrating most of the time, and quickly lost to the sands of time.

Read our Metal Gear Survive review.

17. Metal Gear (NES)

Metal Gear (NES)

The game that started it all, Metal Gear’s port from MSX to NES was both a cunning business decision to maximize eyeballs on the product and a lesson in how not to rework a game for a new platform. The more intricate aspects of the MSX version were largely cast aside, map layouts changed drastically, and any sense of balance was jettisoned in this clumsy port. That all resulted in a messy espionage adventure, and an unintended advert to grab the MSX version to experience Snake’s first mission at its very best.

16. Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions

Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions

What would happen if Metal Gear Solid removed its narrative entirely? You’d get a lean and mean Metal Gear Solid game, loaded with hundreds of virtual reality missions that pushes you to master Solid Snake’s talent for stealth. While the more linear structure does make the game more rigid in its design, it’s still a fascinating dive into Metal Gear Solid that shows off the stealth aspects of the landmark title in its purest form. Plus, you can carve people up as cyber-ninja Gray Fox.

Read our Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions review.

15. Metal Gear (MSX)

Metal Gear (MSX)

Metal Gear on NES is a trainwreck of a port, but on MSX, it’s a well-aged title that flipped the script on what video games were capable of at the time. Some archaic elements have naturally carried over, but the core ideas of sneaking, staying out of the visual range of enemies, and radio communication formed a Rock-Solid Snake foundation that the franchise could be built on.

14. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake

The original Metal Gear was proof that stealth games had a place in a market saturated with guns-blazing action-adventures and platformers. The 1990 MSX sequel was a reinforced statement of that idea, polishing up every rough edge of the first game and adding layers of nuanced and sophisticated design. Series staples such as silenced pistols, improvisational combat, and cardboard boxes helped reinforce its stealth gameplay, and with a more complex plot, Metal Gear 2 felt like a true cinematic video game at the time.

13. Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes

Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes

Twin Snakes is a strange beast, as this remake of the first Metal Gear Solid was co-helmed by none other than Eternal Darkness developer Silicon Knights. A number of Metal Gear Solid 2’s gameplay ideas (like the superb first-person aiming) were used to update the game, creating a well-received remake. Godzilla: Final Wars director Ryuhei Kitamura helmed the new cutscenes, and while they may have turned Snake into a nigh-unstoppable action hero, the end result made the stealth operative cooler than ever.

Read our Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes review.

12. Metal Gear Solid GBC (Ghost Babel)

Metal Gear Solid: Ghost Babel

The Nintendo Game Boy was a miracle handheld, a device that regularly managed to capture the essence of big-name games on its more limited hardware. Metal Gear Solid for the GBC (AKA Ghost Babel in Japan) cleverly dials back the PlayStation MGS experience, throws in a few familiar narrative ideas, and charts its own path forward with a return to Outer Heaven. It looks great, the boss fights against colorfully named mercenaries are charming, and the level-based structure made this chapter in the franchise an instant classic.

11. Metal Gear Acid

Metal Gear Acid

Sony’s PSP handheld had a great lineup of launch games in 2005, and with a new Metal Gear game in the list, fans were only too eager to dive into Solid Snake’s latest adventure. Metal Gear Acid was unlike anything that had come before it at the time, a mixture of cards, conspiracies, and tactical gameplay that threw out the usual stealth-action gameplay of the series for a more cerebral approach. A turn-based shift might have been seen as an odd move for the series, but almost two decades later, Metal Gear Acid and its sequel hold up surprisingly well.

Read our Metal Gear Acid review.

10. Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops / Plus

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops

For those fans looking to grab a proper Metal Gear Solid experience in a handheld form factor, Portable Ops arrived in 2006 to make that dream a reality. There were a few issues–notably a camera system from hell–that made the game somewhat clunky, but it was still a fun game that stuck to the formula that had made Metal Gear Solid a success on PlayStation consoles. It’s also notable for having elements that would be incorporated into later games, such as base-building, making Portable Ops an important and worthy addition to any Metal Gear Solid collection.

Read our Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops review.

9. Metal Gear Acid 2

Metal Gear Acid 2

A deeper and more strategic return to card-based tactical action, Metal Gear Acid 2’s gameplay polishes up the unique approach of the original game to stunning effect. Featuring another oddball story of covert infiltrations told through an eye-catching cel-shaded graphical approach, Metal Gear Acid 2 also came packaged with the Solid Eye peripheral. It was essentially an accessory that you’d slap onto your PSP so that you could get a 3D effect, which was neat for 10 minutes before it was tossed aside so that you could focus on the invigorating tale unfolding around you.

Read our Metal Gear Acid 2 review.

8. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

It’s hard to classify Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes as anything other than bold, because this glorified demo managed to sneak into stores and charge players a premium retail price for an early slice of Phantom Pain gameplay. It’s still essential for any complete Metal Gear Solid library, and as a prologue squeezed between the events of Peace Walker and Phantom Pain, it functions well as a prologue that would help set up the grand campaign to come while also proving that Metal Gear Solid had kept up with the times.

Read our Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes review.

7. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance took the franchise in yet another new direction. Developed by Platinum Games and armed with a soundtrack that perfectly complemented its over-the-top gameplay, Revengeance has the subtlety of a runaway freight train and an attitude that propelled to the top of the meme charts. Almost a decade later, people are still talking about this gem of a game, or tapping splinters into their feet while listening to its energetic score as they slice enemies into bloody chunks of atoms.

Read our Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance review.

6. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

The grand conclusion to the saga of Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots mixes fascinating ideas with terrific gadgets and a story that celebrates the entire history of the series up to that point. It’s Hideo Kojima at his cinematic action best, blending over-the-top characters with deadly stealth action as the game. It’s sadly only available on PS3 consoles, but it’s still one of the best console exclusives of its era.

Read our Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots review.

5. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty / Substance

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Sons of Liberty had a high benchmark to reach after the runaway success of Metal Gear Solid, and with a Big Shell of hype and momentum behind, this sequel proved to be more than up to the task. Controversial for its decision to replace Solid Snake (who’s the spitting image of that Iruqios Plissken fella) with Raiden, history has shown Sons of Liberty to be easily the cleverest entry in the series. Filled with all manner of baffling plot points and ideas that only made sense years later, the first Metal Gear Solid game on PS2 was a runaway success that looked amazing, held a ton of secrets, and pushed the envelope for interactive storytelling further than ever.

Read our Metal Gear Solid 2 review.

4. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Though the other Metal Gear PSP games were pretty good, none of them reached the heights of Peace Walker, which was a full-fledged traditional entry in the franchise that bested a number of the console games. A good-looking stealth-action campaign, slick production values, and well-honed gameplay made it an essential purchase for the PSP. It was arguably the best PSP game ever made. With fascinating gameplay systems, a spectacular soundtrack, and some of the best boss fights in the series to date, Peace Walker stood out at launch and remains a wonderful experience today.

Read our Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker review.

3. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

The final Metal Gear Solid game with Hideo Kojima leading development duties, The Phantom Pain moved the franchise into more modern territory with its sandbox approach, upgraded stealth gameplay, and an ambitious online mode that’s admittedly impossible to beat. While it has a few flaws and a slightly unfinished atmosphere, it’s still a masterpiece of storytelling, environmental design, and is filled with an absurd amount of detail. It’s also easily the “biggest” entry in the Metal Gear franchise. You can easily spend dozens of hours sneaking behind enemy lines and listening to Cold War chart-topping hits.

Read our Metal Gear Solid 5 review.

2. Metal Gear Solid

Metal Gear Solid

A genre-defining leap forward for video games, Metal Gear Solid hit with an extinction-level impact in 1998. In a year that saw the release of Grim Fandango, Half-Life, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid was making waves for its deft combination of stealth, action, and cutscenes that seamlessly flowed into each other. It was action-packed and cerebral, a graphical leap forward that squeezed every inch of power possible out of the original PlayStation, and was loaded with technological achievements that are taken for granted these days.

Even better, Metal Gear Solid was a fascinating game to revisit, as Hideo Kojima’s attention to detail meant that each playthrough was packed with new facets of the Shadow Moses Island to uncover and experiment with. From the mind-bending Psycho Mantis boss fight to the final showdown with walking war machine Metal Gear Rex, Metal Gear Solid helped solidify games as thought-provoking narrative experiences and redefined the stealth genre.

Read our Metal Gear Solid review.

1. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater / Subsistence

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater takes the top spot on this list as the definitive Metal Gear experience. More accurately, though, we’re talking about Subsistence, the overhauled take on the third Solid Snake game that instantly became one of the best games of its time. Subsistence significantly improved the game’s camera, which really helped to highlight the game’s excellent mix of stealth and survival gameplay.

Though a number of games in the series are known for their great writing, Metal Gear Solid 3 tells the most emotional and well-paced story with a better ending than even the most diehard Metal Gear enthusiasts could imagine. Featuring some of the most inventive boss fights in games–period–and a world rife with interesting set pieces that forced players to put their thinking caps on, Metal Gear Solid 3 took the already revered series to a new level.

Subsistence also introduced Metal Gear Online, an awesome multiplayer spin on Metal Gear Solid 3’s tactical-stealth experience. Metal Gear Online is unsurprisingly no longer online, but at the time it made Metal Gear Solid 3 one of the best solo and competitive games around.

Metal Gear Solid 3 can also lay claim to the best use of a ladder in a video game. This is extremely impressive considering how many games feature ladders.

Read our Metal Gear Solid 3 review.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

It’s Friday, a daily reset is hitting Destiny 2 in just a few hours, and a certain arms dealer will appear to offer a varied selection of Exotic weapons and armor for a few days. As usual, you can expect Xur to hang around for a while in one his usual haunts, offering players some of the best gear in Destiny 2 in exchange for legendary shards. While we don’t quite know where Xur is just yet, we’ll update this post as soon as we have his location.

While you wait for Xur to arrive, there’s plenty to do in Destiny 2 now that the Festival of the Lost Halloween event has begun. You can check out our Festival of the Lost guide to help you complete your Event Card, take a peek at the delightful Ghostbusters emote, and grab the new Mech-themed armor ornaments in the Eververse store.

Xur is present every weekend in Destiny 2, starting with the daily reset at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET on Friday. Bungie doesn’t mark Xur’s location on the in-game map, so it can be easy to miss him if you’re not aware he exists. He only comes to specific locations, of which now there are only three: the Tower Hangar area, on Nessus in Watcher’s Grave, and in the Winding Cove area of the EDZ.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News