What you need to know
- Forza Horizon 5 is the latest, critically acclaimed entry in the long-running open-world racing franchise.
- The 10-year anniversary of the original Forza Horizon is rapidly approaching, and Playground Games is celebrating in Forza Horizon 5.
- The studio's recent Forza Monthly and Forza Let's Go! streams shared plenty of info on what's to come in the massive update.
- The Horizon 10-Year Anniversary is the game's "biggest update ever," with new cars, events, Achievements, cosmetics, and much more.
Forza Horizon 5 has now been available for over six months, and in that time as enjoyed twelve Series updates that brought new cars, features, and content to the expanding open-world racing game. With the 10-year anniversary of the original Forza Horizon game arriving on Oct. 23, 2012, Playground Games is preparing to make Series 13 the game's "biggest update ever," according to the studio's recent Forza Let's Go! stream.
The next content update for Forza Horizon 5 is the Horizon 10-Year Anniversary update, originally announced during the Xbox Tokyo Game Show, and will bring an absurd amount of new content to the ongoing title. For four weeks, Forza Horizon 5 players will celebrate each of the four previous Forza Horizon games, and will have an opportunity to earn new cars, music, cosmetics, Achievements, and much more.
The highlights of the massive Horizon 10-Year Anniversary update for Forza Horizon 5, which also features Series 13 of the Forza Horizon 5 Festival Playlist, includes:
- New Festival Playlist. Of course, the Horizon 10-Year Anniversary update also ushers in Series 13 of the Forza Horizon 5 Festival Playlist. Each Season week of the Series 13 Festival Playlist is dedicated to a previous Forza Horizon game, starting with the original and going through the years to finish on Forza Horizon 4.
- Players can earn the cover car from each previous Forza Horizon game during its Series week
- Everything during each week pays tribute to the game it celebrates, with plenty of easter eggs, references, and more
- Races featured as part of the Festival Playlist will use assets from previous Forza Horizon games
- New cars. The Forza Horizon 5 car list is growing a little larger with the Horizon 10-Year Anniversary update, with four additional vehicles available through the Festival Playlist and one special edition of a fan-favorite classic. The new cars include:
- 2010 Aston Martin One-77
- 2010 Ferrari 599XX
- 2011 Koenigsegg Agera
- 2012 Eagle Speedster
- 2013 Dodge Viper SRT GTS Anniversary Edition
- New Horizon Story. Horizon Origins is the latest Horizon Story addition to Forza Horizon 5, and it travels through the years to celebrate the entire history of the Horizon Festival.
- Each Chapter will look at a different era of Forza Horizon, and feature cover cars and more from each of the previous Forza Horizon titles
- Horizon Origins is packed with easter eggs, unique cinematics, and much more to pay homage to the history of the franchise
- There will be a unique and exciting initial experience for Horizon Origins that players will be thrown into at the beginning of the Horizon 10-Year Anniversary celebration as a "Series intro"
- Completing the Horizon Origins Story will reward players with the exclusive 2013 Dodge Viper SRT GTS Anniversary Edition, which is tuned to the top of S1-Class. It also features an exclusive preset that tunes it to the top of S2-Class
- Horizon Origins is a permanent addition to Forza Horizon 5, and will still be available after the Horizon 10-Year Anniversary Festival Playlist ends
- Evolving World updates. Forza Horizon 5's Evolving World continues to expand with the Horizon 10-Year Anniversary update, with numerous additions coming to players throughout Series 13.
- Previous PR Stunts added and removed during previous Series are returning for the Horizon 10-Year Anniversary update
- Each Season will add a new exclusive Festival Site dedicated to the game it celebrates, complete with a unique mural taken straight from the original for photos
- New radio station. Fan favorite music from previous Forza Horizon games is returning with the new Forza Horizon 5 Mixtape Station, which will feature over a dozen artists.
- Players can also unlock new songs by completing Accolades, Festival Playlist events and challenges, and more
- New Achievements, Accolades, and Badges. Players committed to completion will be pleased by a collection of new earnable Achievements, Accolades, and Badges being added with the Horizon 10-Year Anniversary update.
- There are eight new Achievements, worth a combined 150 Gamerscore
- The return of Midnight Battles. One of the new features added in Forza Horizon 3 were Midnight Battles, a series of one-versus-one Head-to-Head Street Races. With the Horizon 10-Year Anniversary update, Midnight Battles are returning.
- Players will need to win several Street Races in order to unlock Midnight Battles
- There are four Midnight Battles, with each dedicated to a new PI Class (C, B, A, and S1)
- If players win the Midnight Battle, they'll earn the car they beat, obtainable through Accolades
- The Midnight Battles are all-new routes, and are a new Race Event class with unique icons that appear on the map
- Midnight Battle routes can be used for EventLab, Rivals, and more
- Midnight Battles feature the original intro cinematic from Forza Horizon 3
- New EventLab props. Playground Games is including the largest single update to EventLab with the Horizon 10-Year Anniversary update, with 97 additional props being made available to players.
- Props come from each of the previous Forza Horizon games, with a new category dedicated to each title
- New props include boats, buildings, Festival Site pieces, and much more
- Many of the new props even support snapping to Hot Wheels track pieces
- New rims. This update isn't the most exciting for additional car customization, but Playground Games isn't leaving this crucial facet of Forza Horizon 5 untouched. With the Horizon 10-Year Anniversary update, 22 new custom rims will be available across FH5's entire roster of cars.
- New player cosmetics. Players will be able to decorate their characters with new Vanity Items, Emotes, and Car Horns inspired by previous games.
- A plethora of bug fixes. Every update to Forza Horizon 5 brings fresh polish and bug fixes, and this release is no different. Playground Games is including plenty of improvements with the Horizon 10-Year Anniversary update.
Players will be able to download the Horizon 10-Year Anniversary update for Forza Horizon 5 on Oct. 11, 2022 for Xbox and PC platforms, and will be able to enjoy its bug fixes, quality-of-life improvements, and more immediately afterward. The official celebration kicks off on Oct. 13, 2022, when Series 12 of the Festival Playlist ends and makes way for Series 13.
Forza Horizon 5 currently sits at the top as one of the greatest racing games on Xbox, but practically every previous Forza Horizon game also held that spot during its tenure. With the Horizon 10-Year Anniversary update, players will be able to honor what made each of those games special, while also spending more time in what is the most ambitious and largest of the entire series. Players who have been on the fence about purchasing Forza Horizon 5 can also take advantage of discounts of up to 30% during the Horizon 10-Year Anniversary celebration.
