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Forza Horizon 6 screeched onto the scene earlier this week in a smoke of cherry blossoms, and it has Baldur's Gate 3 publishing director Michael 'Cromwelp' Douse's attention.
Douse says in a recent Twitter post that Forza Horizon 6 is "a perfect game," especially in what he describes as "a struggling industry." To his point, it feels like mass layoffs, spontaneous game cancellations, and a flood of uninspired remakes have all become as predictable as the sunset. But, as we note in our four-out-of-five Forza Horizon 6 review, developer Playground Games made "one of the most convincing open worlds ever."
The Japan setting in Forza Horizon 6 is huge and lucious, offering a variety of snow-kissed mountaintops, curlicue highways, and more cherry blossoms than you can count while racing the luxury vehicle of your dreams. The game's underlying narrative about being a racecar driver progressing through the competitive Horizon Festival is, admittedly, characteristically loose, and our reviewer Justin Towell calls Forza Horizon 6's story "shallow and unconvincing." But you're not playing Forza Horizon 6 for the story.
You're playing it, as Douse writes on Twitter, for the "perfect gameplay loop. Consistently joyous, energetic, and infectiously upbeat."
"It is like a familiar friend that both wants you to have a good time and knows how to show you one," Douse adds. And it's true, while the Forza franchise hasn't undergone any gigantic changes in its 21 years on Earth – the job of a racing game is, ultimately, to be a racing game – Forza Horizon 6 takes the stylish, caffeinated, indestructible feeling the franchise gives you and makes it glossy with expert visuals and oil slick controls. "A truly rare gem in a struggling industry," says Douse.
Plus, "Idk who is in charge of the Horizon Opus playlist," the Larian lead mentions, "but mans is really locked in. Clark & Max Richter but specifically November with Mari Samuelsen is an insane neoclassical get." I was personally moved by hearing my favorite harpist-princess Mary Lattimore in Spring. Watching my fiance race the little pink sports car I made him buy with Hello Kitty decals, I realize Forza Horizon 6 has something for everyone.
