Playground Games has revealed a tiny look at the world of Forza Horizon 5, and it is stunning. The screenshots were all shared via Xbox Wire, where the developer spoke a little bit about the location that the game is set in as well, Mexico. I’ve recently started playing Forza Horizon 4 to get ready for this game, and just from these images I can already see how different the game is going to be. Forza Horizon 4 saw players racing around England in cars that should be way too big for the road, wrecking dry stone walls like they’re nothing. The weather was pretty terrible, so accurate, and racing felt interesting as that weather changed. This is all coming across to the next game, and I can’t wait to play it.
Forza Horizon 5 is set in Mexico. The country has loads of variation in both weather and terrain, with deserts in some parts, jungles in others, cities and beaches between them, and even volcanoes. All of this is packed into Forza Horizon 5, and players can drive across every single inch of it. The game will feel like a driving holiday to the region, except you’ll also be competing for points to buy faster cars and tear up the roads even more.
One thing that I’m extremely pleased has made it across to the next game is the weather and the seasonal pattern of weather. In England, summer is very different to winter, and Forza Horizon 4 did a great job of portraying this. In Mexico, weather changes even more drastically due to the weather. In winter, there are tropical storms that savage the place, and in summer there are sand storms that can cover entire cities, leaving no visibility for anyone on the road.
The world of Forza Horizon 5 is big too, it’s 1.5 times the size of the last game’s. The developers looked at the game they had and told themselves they wanted bigger, but they also wanted denser. This seems to be something they’ve achieved in the game, and I can’t wait to rive around it in hypercars, taking in the Mexican culture as I go.