Forza Horizon has now gotten to a point where it’s arguably even bigger than Forza Motorsport, the franchise that it spun off from. Forza Horizon 3 is without a doubt one of the best games of this generation, and the masters at Playground Games are now coming back for the bigger and better sequel, Forza Horizon 4. In this feature, we’re going to be taking a look at fifteen most important and exciting details about the game, so buckle in- because we’re gonna jump right in.
THE SETTING
Forza Horizon 4 is going to through players into what’s been described as a “heavily stylized” open world recreation of Great Britain, Playground Games’ very own, well, playground. You can expect the map to be as large as the one in Horizon 3, while just like its predecessor, it will not be worrying about accuracy and authenticity much, as much as it will be focused on creating a fun sandbox playground that resembles real life locations. Assassin’s Creed this is not. The map will mostly cover Scotland and the Lake District of North West England
SEASONS
The most notable addition in Forza Horizon 4, of course, is the seasons, each of which – namely Winter, Summer, Autumn, and Spring – will last a week in real time, and will result in dynamic changes to the game world, which in turn will affect how you drive. These will also be fixed across the game’s servers, meaning every player will experience the same seasons and seasonal changes. Depending on what season it is, the map will change, and previously inaccessible areas might become accessible. For instance, while an island in the middle of a lake during summer may not be accessible for obvious reasons, during winter the lake will have frozen over, allowing players to then drive over to the island over the frozen surface. Similarly, while a river during Fall season might be hale and hearty, during the Summer it might dry up, opening up new areas and paths for players to access and driver through.
WEATHER EFFECTS
Changing weather patterns, of course, will also change your driving styles, which is something we’ve all come to expect from Forza anyway. Rain, snow, and ice will change your car’s handling, of course, but Playground Games are going even deeper, because other than seasonal effects and weather effects, temperature will also play into how you drive. For instance, how warm or cold the current temperature is will impact your driving- how much heat there is in the surfaces you’re driving on, how that gets transferred from the surfaces into your tires will all affect your driving.
OVER 450 VEHICLES
A racing game is only as good as the roster of cars it boasts of, and in that area, no game has come close to even matching Microsoft’s Forza series in the last few years. Forza Horizon 4’s roster is looking impressive as well, boasting of over 450 vehicles, ranging from trucks and buggies to sports cars and everything else you would expect, all of which will be spanning over 100 official licenses.
SKILL TREES
But what’s even more impressive is that each and every one of these vehicles will have their individual skill trees. Yep, that’s right- each car will have its own skill tree and will be levelled up separately, while each skill tree will also have upto sixteen perks. How these will differ from each other and to what extent is something we don’t know yet, but we can probably safely assume that perks and skill trees will vary based on the kind of vehicle you’re driving- for example, don’t expect trucks and racing cars to have the same trees.
PROPERTIES
While most of your time will obviously be spent zooming about in the open world of Great Britain, you can also put down your roots should you wish to do so. Players can purchase houses from a selection of 12 given properties within the game, and these range from everything to cozy, homey cottages, to larger, sprawling mansions. Hunstman Lodge and Edinburgh Castle, for instance, are two of the twelve properties in the game’s map that players can purchase. These houses, which are exclusive to the single player as a mechanic, will have both cosmetic perks, as well as upgrades that will influence gameplay.
PLAYER CUSTOMIZATION
While Forza Horizon 4 is about cars, obviously, it’s going to expand a little bit beyond that, and will allow you to customize your playable character.There will be 14 preset characters to choose from, as well as 500 apparel options in total (which can be earned through gameplay or purchased directly, which, we assume, means microtransactions), and 50 emotes. Of course, given its aforementioned focus on vehicles and driving (since it’s, you know, a racing game), these changes will be purely cosmetic, just in there as an added bonus, and won’t affect your driving at all.
ROUTE CREATOR
Forza Horizon 4 will be leveraging its open world in truly unique and interesting ways. We’ve already spoken about the seasons, which promises to be a game-changer, but the Route Creator, though not as major or significant, is still looking very interesting. If you find a path or a route in the game’s world that may not be known to others, or that may have unpredictably cropped up due to changing seasons that even the developers may not have predicted, you can save it and share it with others. This, of course, is a feature that many fans of the series have been requesting for some time, so its inclusion makes us very happy indeed.
CAMPAIGN
The campaign in Forza Horizon 4 is going to be split across its headline feature, that being the four seasons. Once again, you will be participating in the Horizon Festival, which is to be expected, and progression in campaign will come through completion of races and events that are handed to you throughout the course of the game, all of which can be played either solo or co-operatively. There will also be side objectives, such as painting vehicles, taking photographs, and tuning up your cars, which will come via Horizon Life.
SHOWCASE EVENTS
Showcase events are one of the things that fans of Forza Horizon love the most, and thankfully, they’re going to make a return in Forza Horizon 4– not that there was ever any doubt that they wouldn’t, of course. For those who don’t know, Forza Horizon 4‘s showcase events, just like before, will allow you to participate in special events in unique vehicles, such as a giant hovercraft, for instance.
MULTIPLAYER
Multiplayer has also always been a major part of any Forza Horizon experience, and while playing the game completely solo is absolutely going to be an option, of course, Forza Horizon 4 will have a meaty multiplayer experience as well. Gone are the Drivatars which we saw in Forza Horizon 3, and these sill be replaced by actual, real-world players playing online, which will run on servers that can each have a maximum of 72 concurrent players. To avoid griefing, players will not be able to crash into each other while driving in the open world, and will instead simply pass through each other- this, however, obviously won’t be the case during races and events, of course.
FORZATHON
There’s also Forzathon Life, which will comprise of multiplayer modes which will be changed every hour, and will be playable by up to 12 players. Groups of players will be given certain objectives that will have to be completed within a set time limit, and upon completion of an objective, the team with the most points will proceed to the next stage, with their being three stages in total, and each state presumably handing out more points than the last. At the end of the time limit, the points gained will be distributed in the team evenly, which can then be spent in the Forzathon Shop to purchase gear and items.
CHALLENGES
But of course, there’s going to be plenty more content in Forza Horizon 4 to sink your teeth into- if the stuff we’ve already spoken about somehow doesn’t seem like enough to you. This will come in the form of challenges and events. Daily challenges, focusing on achievements, and Weekly Challenges, focusing on mastering a particular vehicle, will all be included in Forza Horizon 4.
GAME PASS
Game Pass has to be one of the best things to have come out of Microsoft in years, something that is so ridiculously convenient, especially for its extremely convenient subscription price. Microsoft have promised in the past that their flagship exclusives will all be supporting Game Pass on launch day, and true to their word, Forza Horizon 4 will be available on Game Pass the minute it launches on October 2nd.
XBOX ONE X ENHANCEMENTS
Forza games have always been absolute beasts from a visual perspective, both Horizon and Motorsport, which is why the fact that as one of Microsoft’s flagship franchises they’re bound to have Xbox One X enhancements is so exciting, because they’re bound to look even more stunning. And sure enough, Forza Horizon 4 is going to run at a native 4K resolution at 30 frames per second, while it will also have a second mode that allows 60 frames, but will run at a lower resolution- what exactly that resolution will be hasn’t been confirmed yet.
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