Forza Horizon 5 Begins With You Helidropping Into a Volcano

Forza Horizon games always begin with a showcase introduction, and the fifth installment goes wilder than ever before, with the game literally dropping you into a volcano.

Shown off during the Gamescom Xbox Stream, the game’s introduction begins with a 2020 Ford Bronco Badlands reversing out of a plane and parachuting into the game’s Gran Caldera volcano during winter, seeing snow and lava meat in columns of steam. It’s a confident opening, to say the least.

But it’s only a quarter of the introduction – the intro includes three other cars airdropping into the new Mexican map, from the countryside in a dust storm, to a flamingo-filled jungle, to a coastal road that leads you directly into the game’s central festival site.

Forza Horizon’s introduction events have gained interest throughout the series, and this is the most out-of-the-ordinary yet, acting as a showcase for the Xbox Series X’s power, and the game’s variety of locations at the same time. Two of the cars involved, the Mercedes-AMG ONE and the Ford Bronco Badlands, are Forza Horizon 5’s cover vehicles, too.

Forza Horizon 5 arrives on November 9, and this is just the latest in a series of stunning gameplay reveals we’ve seen since it was announced at E3 2021. We’ve also had developer walkthroughs, 14 minutes of Series X gameplay, and we’ve gotten a look at the game’s full map.

Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].