The upcoming series and update for Forza Horizon 5 has been presented by Playground Games, in its latest “Let’s Go” stream slightly ahead of its usual schedule.
Officially called “Hidden Horizons”, Series 38 runs along a theme of secrecy. There’s a brand new game mode — Hide and Seek — where you’ll either need to be sneaky or tenacious, as well as a map change that adds a literal maze, and all sorts of little extra nods to the art of hiding.
You’ll be able to start playing some of S38 when the update arrives on October 10, ahead of the full Playlist change on October 12, and here’s what you can look forward to across the next month.
Forza Horizon 5: Hide and Seek
As announced last month, Series 38 sees the introduction of a brand-new game mode: Hide and Seek.
You can probably divine from the name that the purpose is to either successfully hide or seek. There’ll be one hider, driving a vehicle more commonly found as a traffic car, and five seekers in more rapid equipment. As a hider you’ll need to avoid being found, while seekers will try to find them by filling up the detection meter.
There’s some tools to aid both sides, with a “Ping” function that tags the hider so other seekers can find them more easily and a “Chase Breaker” that briefly kills the seekers’ engines and ghosts the hider.
The game consists of two periods. First there’s four minutes of pure hide and seek, before an escape zone appears for the hider to sprint towards to win.
New Achievements for this mode aren’t added in S38, but will arrive in S39 next month. There are however some new Accolades and Badges related to the mode, and it will also appear as a Playlist event too.
Forza Horizon 5 Series 38 New Free Cars
It’s another relatively small offering in terms of new cars this month, with four brand-new items available to collect — by scoring 20pt in each of the four seasons.
Three of the four are legendary Japanese names, beginning with the newest car on the list in the shape of the 2022 Subaru WRX. As you’d expect, this sedan comes with all-wheel drive and a hair over 270hp to provide the same level of performance that’s been a hallmark for nearly 30 years.
Joining it for a spot of red vs. blue rivalry is the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III. It’s a more old-school version of the same recipe — normal family four-door plus a small, turbocharged engine and all-wheel drive for rally shenanigans — but a vital step in the Evo timeline.
Something a bit more regal is available too, as the Toyota Chaser X80 makes an entrance. In GT Twin Turbo form it’s essentially a luxury, four-door Supra, packing the same 2.5-liter, twin-turbocharged 1JZ straight six as the sportier wedge.
Finally there’s some Swedish sporting know-how with the Volvo C30 Polestar. Essentially the same car as the second-gen Ford Focus ST, this car features a thumping five-pot tweaked by then-tuner Polestar (now its own brand, of course) and turned up nearly 30hp to 250hp. Through the front wheels.
A fifth car will also be available, as the Chevrolet Camaro Jordan Luka 3 Motorsport Edition will appear in Horizon too following its arrival in Motorsport, and will be delivered through player messages for free.
Forza Horizon 5 Series 38 New World Changes
There’s another Stadium makeover in S38, bringing the Horizon Stadium Maze to the game — pairing up neatly with the hide and seek theme.
The maze consists of a variety of very tall obstacles in the stadium, dividing it up into four colored zones — green, orange, purple, and blue — each with a sky beam to activate. At the center, should you be able to find your way in, there’s a special viewing platform and a special ramp to allow you to jump back to the exit.
Forza Horizon 5 Series 38 New Collectibles
A new version of the “Tank” mascot appears in S38, which you’ll be able to spot in challenges across in the series and use in your EventLab creations. That’s “Detective Tank” — another play on the hide and seek mode — dressed in his finest trenchcoat and magnifying glass.
You’ll also be able to collect a special camo race suit this month, for completing a photo challenge during the Summer season. Although we wouldn’t say it’s a particularly effect way at camouflaging yourself anywhere other than a broken Slush Puppy machine, it does sport the Hide and Seek event logo.
Forza Horizon 5 Series 38 Other Changes
There’s a handful of other changes this month, mainly looking at bugfixes for vehicles added in previous updates,
The update for Series 38 will arrive some time on Tuesday September 10, bringing Hide and Seek mode along with it. Series 38 itself will go live at 1430 UTC on Thursday September 12.
As usual the stream ended with a small tease for Series 39, “Back to the 90s”. We imagine that’s going to center on cars and styles from the 1990s, but we’ll find out more about this towards the end of S38 in early October.
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