Yesterday the Xbox E3 2018 briefing took place, during which they announced Forza Horizon 4, to be released this fall. October 2, to be specific, with early access for Ultimate Edition owners on September 28. FH4 will be located in Britain, with what looks like a focus on good driving roads in the rural areas. The cover cars this time around are the McLaren Senna and the '97 Land Rover Defender 90. A new feature in FH4 are dynamic seasons, which based on some of the videos below will each last a week. Here's the release trailer:
Like recent Forza games, this will be a Play Anywhere title. It will also be a part of the Xbox Game Pass. Other features are 4k and HDR, and there are talks of 60fps on the Xbox One X, but apparently not with 4k & HDR enabled.
Another change from previous Horizon titles is a variation in what you can do, the IGN interview with Ralph Fulton (second video below) suggests there is not just a single storyline to follow. The player can also own houses!
The online experience in the game is also changing, now we'll be sharing the world with up to 72 other players. This should allow for more ad-hoc group formations to do coop events if one so desires.
Here are a couple of videos from IGN. The first shows the E3 gameplay demo, which walks through the four seasons. The second is an interview with Ralph Fulton, Creative Director at Playground Games.
Curious about the seasons, but mostly about the sheep? Read this interview with Jon Knoles, Design Director at Turn 10 Studios to learn more. Apparently they're really good at dodging cars.
You can pre-order the game now, if you like. Note that preordering through some dealers (e.g. GameStop) can give you some benefits (e.g. an in-game car). The standard version includes the Formula Drift Car Pack. Some time in the future I'm sure we'll learn what the cars in that pack are. The deluxe version also includes the Car Pass. In FH4, the car pass is changing to a "two cars every week for 21 weeks" schedule (compared to a car pack every month for six months). Lastly, the ultimate edition gives you early access (September 28, as mentioned), the day one car pack, VIP membership, and two game expansions. So, we know there'll be two expansions, one in December 2018 and one some time in the first half of 2019.
There's a lot of info coming out about the game through various outlets. I might update the thread with more info if I come across something substantial. In the meantime, I encourage you to explore and enjoy the well of information and videos that are now available!
