Forza Horizon 5releases next week, and fans of racing games couldn’t be more excited. There hasn’t been a new mainline entry in theForzaseries since 2018, breaking the rotating tradition ofMotorsportandHorizonannual releases. Adding to the general excitement for the arcade racer are the high review scores for the game. Many publications have calledForza Horizon 5the best entry in the series and one of the racing genre’s finest, resulting in a Metacritic score of 91, although that could change as more reviews get published.
While the news of high review scores is certainly exciting for anyone looking forward to the game, the scores have larger implications for the studio behind it, Playground Games, and any titles coming from the company in the future. The only thing that Playground has been lined up to work on publiclyfollowingForza Horizon 5’s release isFable, the follow-up to the beloved Western RPG series, and expectations for the game are beginning to rise as more reviews forHorizon 5get published.
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Setting High Expectations for Fable
When it was first announced that Playground Games would be working on theFableseries, many fans were sceptical. The studio had previously not done any work on games outside of theForza Horizonfranchise, so expecting the company to be able to shift gears into creating an RPG seemed like a tall order. What’s more, despite some controversies with the ending of the final installment, theFableseries is iconic, and any studio working on a follow-up to it has some big shoes to fill in the eyes of fans. Luckily, thehigh review scores forForza Horizon 5have set expectations higher than previously thought for Playground’s first RPG.
It’s important to note thatForza Horizon 5and theFableseries share just about nothing in common, so the quality of one doesn’t speak to just about anything for the quality of the other in terms of gameplay mechanics or story. That said, the high scores forHorizon 5are reflecting well on the studio as a whole and its eye for quality game making. Although the development ofForza Horizon 5likely has very little to do withFable’s development, the fact that Playground is able to make quality titles means that there might be more going forFablethan originally thought.
Additionally, there are still plenty of elements fromForza Horizon 5that could make their way intoFablein one way or another. Firstly,Horizon 5is one of the most visually stunning titles of the year and perhaps the best-looking game to release on Xbox consoles ever. The attention paid to the minute details of the cars and of its Mexican environment as a whole paint a pretty picture for the expected graphical fidelity ofFable. TheFableseries hasn’t ever gone for a realistic art style, but that doesn’t mean thatForza Horizon 5’s hyper-realismcan’t be utilized to make the game as beautiful as it can be while also embracing a more cartoonish art style.
The physics engine thatForza Horizon 5uses also has potential to be a good addition toFable. In general, games want to have a solid physics engine to build on, especially when making an open-world title. BecauseForza Horizon 5is as open-world as racing games get, that level of quality will likely have some bearing onFableas well. All in all, the high review scores don’t speak specifically to the quality of the upcomingFabletitle, but they can begin to inform fans that the game has the potential to be on par with the arcade racer.
Forza Horizon 5releases on November 9 for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
