The Cycle: Frontier, a shooter that focuses on extraction, has been shut down for a year, but it's back in Fortnite.

Yager Development, which developed the original extraction shooter The Cycle: Frontier, has brought it back, sort of, as The Cycle: Prospect Island. This new island in Fortnite aims to maintain "the spirit" from the original game.

The Cycle: Prospect Island was born out of a few Yager developers' experiments with Unreal Editor in Fortnite. Most of them had not worked on The Cycle Frontier. Yager wrote a blog about the project. "While they knew early on that not all of what made TC:F so special could be brought to this project, they brought back as many ideas and graphics as possible," Yager wrote. This was not a large project within the studio but the end result is definitely worth checking out.

The gameplay in The Cycle: Prospect Island is similar to the game it was inspired by. You can accept contracts with three factions - Korolev, Osiris and ICA - from your base in Prospect Station. These will send you to Prospect Island, where you will hunt Striders, gather loot and do whatever is required to complete your missions. You'll be competing with other players who may not be friendly. There's also the occasional storm to add to the confusion.

You will keep all the gear you have collected if you complete the job, but your contract progress won't be reset if you die before you reach safety. You can level up by completing contracts. This will unlock new gear and eventually a "faction" class. You'll earn Fortnite battlepass XP regardless of whether you succeed or fail on this front.

It's not a full-fledged return of The Cycle: Frontier but it's a close second. And it's a novel and interesting way for a game studio to preserve "the spirit" (as Yager put it) of the original. It may not satisfy fans who are looking for a full-fledged comeback of the original game, but it could attract new players. After all, Fortnite is a hugely popular game.

It seems that this isn't going to be the only Cycle-inspired extract shooter coming soon to Fortnite. Yager wrote, "We're also aware of a pretty cool looking UEFN Fan Project from some seasoned Prospectors who want to bring to life their own vision of a extraction shooter with the Unreal editor for Fortnite." "They were inspired from The Cycle: Frontier, and so far their effort looks amazing!" We will keep you updated when their project is playable so that you can also experience it for yourself.

The Cycle: Frontier could also make a comeback in the future. "As usual in the gaming world, never say never. Who knows if Fortuna III will return at some point, who knows?"

The island code for Prospect Island is 8495-9375-7199.