Forza Horizon 4 developer Playground Games is dishing a ton of new info about their open-world racer via a series of weekly livestreams throughout July. Last week, they showed off summer and revealed some details about character customization and houses, and this week, the demoed autumn, the game’s shared-world online features, Forzathon challenges, and more. You can check out the full livestream, below (jump to the 10:25 to get a full look at the game’s map).
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Here’s what you need to know about Horizon Life, Forzathon events, and Showcases:
Horizon Life
Horizon Life is the umbrella term for Forza Horizon 4’s shared-world online component, which supports 72 players on a server at once. Switching back and forth between solo and online play is a simple one-click menu choice, and the transition between the two is seamless – no loading screen whatsoever. When playing online, and “Auto Ghost” feature will keep other cars from crashing into you (they’ll just pass through) and you’ll still be able to do all the stuff you can in single-player, including take photos and rewind mistakes.
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Forzathon
Forzathon will keep players busy in a variety of different ways – Forzathon Live team events pop up hourly, Daily Challenges give players a series of smaller achievements to chase, and Weekly Challenges task you with mastering a specific vehicle. Playground showed off a Forzathon Live event, which consisted of three phases – a Speed Zone, Speed Trap, and Skills challenge. The points you earn are added to the team score, and once you accumulate enough, you move onto the next phase. Complete all three stages within the time limit, and you’ll earn Forzathon points, which can be spent in the Forzathon Shop. According to Playground, the Forzathon Shop will be a good place to nab rare items you haven’t been able to get from the Wheelspin random loot generator.
Showcases
Showcases (crazy, cinematic races against unique vehicles) will, of course, be returning in Forza Horizon 4. Playground showed off a new one, The Behemoth, which involved racing a giant hovercraft down a mountain in the Scottish highlands. Sure, why not?
The next Forza Horizon 4 livestream happens on July 24, at 7pm BST. Playground is promising a focus on winter and other new features.
Forza Horizon 4 drifts onto PC and Xbox One on October 2.
