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The latest in a vibrant history of gaming metal crossovers is Fortnite’s nod to Metallica

You and up to three of your Fortnite pals can now rock out like Hetfield with the new Master of Puppets emote, which can be purchased in the game’s store.

The emote, which was announced on Fortnite’s official Twitter, costs 500 V-Bucks (about $3.50 / £2.80 / AU$5.10) and allows you and your teammates to play an instrument while thrashing to Metallica’s “One” as a group.

You can get the newest Icon Series emote, Master of Puppets, by visiting the Fortnite game’s Item Shop and scrolling down to the emote’s section. The four of you may put on a little performance with only one of you buying the emote, as the other three need not have it in their libraries to participate.

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Armed to the teeth

Although you won’t have to don a Lars Ulrich outfit for your big moment, Fortnite has earned a place in the blaring and storied history of metal and gaming crossovers thanks to its subtle tribute to the band Metallica.

The history of rock genre mash-ups in video games goes back quite a ways, but 2022 has been especially fruitful for players who prefer their games heavy on the metal. In addition to the Slipknot skins for the third-person shooter Smite by Hi-Rez Studios, one of my favourite crossovers this year was Metal: Hellsinger, which mixed aspects of first-person melee action games with Guitar Hero-style on-the-beat mechanics to create a genuinely novel experience. The heavy metal heavyweights Arch Enemy, Trivium, and Lamb Of God composed and performed original songs for the Swedish indie gem Metal: Hellsinger.

Ice Nine Kills’ Hunting Season, an unique song written for the cross-platform battle royale game PUBG: Battlegrounds, is perhaps my favourite metal-gaming crossover of late. Even if you’re not a metalhead, you have to admit that it’s cool that Ice Nine Kills sampled the original PUBG theme music and worked it into their own song.

Other high-octane games include Kiss: Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child, a first-person shooter from (you guessed it) glam rockers KISS, and DoubleFine’s action-adventure Brütal Legend, in which a roadie (played by Jack Black) explores a fantasy world modelled by legendary album covers.

Epic Games’ inclusion of heavy metal into Fortnite may not have been the first of its kind, but it is surely one of the most deliberate. The fourth season of Netflix’s sci-fi horror drama Stranger Things catapulted Master of Puppets back onto worldwide music charts, so who knows who other rock ‘n’ roll luminaries may make their way into the game’s Icon Series next.