We already know seasons are coming to Forza Horizon 4. But up until now, we didn’t really know what each season would entail for gamers. But for the weekly Forza video series throughout the month of July, Playground Games will give players their first look.
For its first stream, Playground Games’ Ralph Fulton showed off summer. However, it’s not just any summer. Instead, Fulton describes it as the “perfect British summer,” which of course means hot days and little rainfall.
Don’t get too excited though; this is Britain after all. Despite long, hot, dry days, the game will incorporate rainfall during the summer week.
One of the big questions on many gamer’s minds is what can you do during the different seasons. Thankfully, Fulton addressed this during the stream.
For starters, the entire base game is playable no matter what season the game is in. But, like in real life, you might have a hard time trying to race an 800hp supercar on ice and snow.
There will be season-specific events that will open up as well. For the summer months, this includes racing on dry river beds that are otherwise flowing in spring and autumn.
Other changes come when you venture further off-road. Since the summer is dry, gamers won’t encounter mud and loose dirt. Instead, it’ll be mostly hard-packed surface. This means you can take that 800hp supercar and enter it into cross country races with ease.
The other noticeable change is in the foliage. Since summer is often the peak growing time for plants, Playground Games made sure to incorporate that into FH4.
During the summer months trees, flowers, grass, and the like will all be in full bloom. In addition to looking the part, it also serves another gameplay purpose — hiding things like bonus boards.
Another cool feature about the foliage this time around is its rendering. Unlike previous Horizon games, now each plant, tree, and leaf is individually modeled. This allows for some of the best-looking landscaping to date for any Horizon title.
An additional element the team addressed about seasons was the lighting. With a surprising amount of detail Playground Games actually took into consideration the arc of the sun. So during the summer months, the shadows and lighting will look vastly different than winter.
This detail will also carry over with the animals, primarily sheep. During the winter months, the sheep’s coat will get nice and fluffy. Come summertime, the sheep will all get sheared leaving them looking a bit naked.
These are definitely some cool features and we can’t wait to see what other season have in store of FH4 players.
If you want to check out the full stream, you can do so below.
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