Horizon Origins is a new nostalgia-fuelled Forza Horizon 5 anniversary story

Believe it or not, this year marks the 10th anniversary of Playground Games’ Forza Horizon franchise.

The original open-world racer was released on the Xbox 360 way back in 2012, and to celebrate this milestone, Forza Horizon 5 will receive a brand-new story for all players.

Like Drift Club Mexico, the new story will feature several chapters, a new-to-Horizon-5 vehicle and several nods to the franchise’s history.

“When we think of Horizon, we think of all the games and so we wanted to celebrate that with a story,” said Kelly Boyle, Game Designer at developers Playground.

It will start with a bang, however, that will not be shown before it releases later this month.

Each chapter will focus on recreating one of the four previous Horizon titles, with series regular disc jockey Scott Tyler guiding you through.

During today’s (6th October) Forza Monthly broadcast, the second chapter of the new narrative, based around Colorado but within the Mexican map.

2013 Dodge SRT Viper GTS Anniversary Edition

This was with the Anniversary Edition Dodge Viper, in yellow with a black stripe, emblematic of the first game’s cover car. This will be unlocked for use elsewhere in Forza Horizon 5 by completing the Horizon Origins story.

It’s been fettled, so is already at the top of the S1 class. There’s an option upgrade pre-set too, up to the top of S2, thanks in part to an aggressive body kit.

Elements of each game have been recreated, be that the music that’s playing during the missions, the time of day, through to (in this example) a diner from the first game within the current game’s map. The head-to-head race mode, Midnight Battles from the third instalment also returns, alongside a Horizon Mixtape via the in-game radio.

Horizon Mixtape

On said music selection, the following songs from prior Horizon games will be included:

The Horizon Origins story goes live with the next Festival Playlist Series, Thursday 13th October, but will be a permanent fixture playable long after the Playlist changes. The Playlist itself will also be Anniversary themed and the necessary game update lands on the 11th.