Xbox’s new era needs games like Forza Horizon 6

The open-world racing game launches next month, but I recently had the chance to play a preview version to get a sense of what to expect. Even with just a brief taste of the experience I came away impressed. The main shift with Horizon 6 is the setting: It takes place in Japan, and the map is absolutely huge. More importantly, though, it’s incredibly varied. One second you’re blazing past skyscrapers in Tokyo, the next you’re racing along tiny roads in the countryside. It felt like if I took off for a few minutes in any direction, I’d find a completely new landscape. This encouraged me to go down side roads and head into the wilderness just to see what I’d find.

As with previous Horizon games, there is a light story; in this case you’re a budding racer trying to work your way up through to the Horizon festival. You do that by completing events, like straightforward races down rain-slicked city streets and off-road courses on beautiful beaches. Sometimes you have to drift your way down a looping bridge. I spent some time doing these, of course, because that’s how you progress in these racers. But like in the best open-world games I kept finding myself getting distracted. The core act of driving around in Forza Horizon 6 remains incredibly fun, and when you couple it with the diverse and sprawling map, well, it’s easy to lose hours just exploring.

Obviously there is a lot of the game that I haven’t seen. I’ve only driven a handful of cars, mostly a Toyota Celica, and the real test of a world like this is if it remains interesting after dozens of hours of play. That’s not something I can say is true of Horizon 6 just yet. But the fact that this is shaping up to be another excellent entry for the series is not really a surprise. While many big franchises have struggled under the Microsoft umbrella, either through disappointing entries or long gaps between releases, Forza Horizon has steadily turned into Xbox’s most consistent series. Forza releases alternate between the more simulation-focused Motorsport games and the arcade-y Horizon releases, and the Horizon games in particular always deliver.

But so far, Forza Horizon has remained strong and consistent. It’s even become a bestselling series on PlayStation. And while the timing may be purely coincidental, the fact that Forza Horizon 6 is launching as the first major release since Xbox’s leadership upheaval puts it in a position to represent this new era for the brand. From what I’ve played, it’s a good signal of what Xbox can be.

Regardless of what happens with the next Xbox console or the company’s inconsistent multiplatform efforts, the Xbox brand needs big names associated with it. Microsoft gaming’s new CEO, Asha Sharma, said as much when she first took over the role from Phil Spencer. “We must have great games beloved by players before we do anything,” she wrote in a memo. There are few better places to start than a new Forza Horizon.