A new free game mode is coming to Forza Horizon 5 next month, as Microsoft took the opportunity of Gamescom to announce the multiplayer “Hide and Seek” game.
The mode features six players, with a single “Hider” facing a team of five “Seekers”. In a game more closely resembling the classic British children’s street game of Fox and Hounds, or Forty Forty, the goal here is for the Hider to reach a safe zone without being tagged — and for the Seekers to find them.
While that sounds simple enough, there’s a few twists. Firstly, the Hider will be using a standard vehicle that’s replicated in AI traffic cars: the trailer showed the player using the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, which is a collectible vehicle and a standard traffic car too, and other similar cars are also available. That allows the Hider to blend in, if they drive carefully enough.
Additionally there’ll be some power-ups you can use, to allow you to avoid detection and evade the Seekers. One example seen in the trailer is the Chase Breaker, which acts like a short-term engine kill switch for nearby Seekers, as well as ghosting your car.
It’s not all tilted in the Hider’s favor though. The Seekers get to use higher-powered vehicles — a variety of which are shown-off in the clip — and have a few tricks up their sleeves too. That includes a hot/cold meter, showing how close they are to the Hider, as well as their own power-ups including one that allows them to “ping” the Hider to reveal their location for 20 seconds.
There’ll be two phases of the game, with a four-minute period where the Hider must evade detection before the second half where the end-zone becomes active to allow them to escape and win. The Seekers can win in either period by sticking close to the Hider and filling up the Detection meter.
While it looks like all of the action in the trailer takes place in Guanajuato — with its maze of streets and traffic density ideal for the game — and within a specific game area, it’s not clear yet how much of the map will be available for this game mode.
A new set of Accolades will be made available for Hide and Seek when it arrives, while there’ll also be some new Achievements coming in October. We’re expecting Playground Games to reveal more and show the game in action during the Forza Horizon Let’s Go stream on Monday September 9.
The game mode will be added to Forza Horizon 5 in the update for Series 38 on Tuesday September 10. While it will be a free add-on, as a multiplayer event you will need at least an Xbox Game Pass Core subscription to take part in the event.
See more articles on Forza Horizon 5 Game Updates.
