Writer says Forza Horizon 5 became a daily escape from doomscrolling

Kotaku reports that the outlet’s writer has found Forza Horizon 5 to be a daily antidote to doomscrolling, using its open Mexican landscapes as a place to escape from the constant stream of bad news.

The writer, who calls 2012’s Forza Horizon one of their lifetime favorites, says earlier sequels didn’t draw them back in the same way, but Horizon 5’s inviting slice of Mexico did. They bought the game on PlayStation 5 during a winter sale — not long after the news had broken that “we’d attacked Venezuela” — and picked a fairly ordinary car, a Nissan Skyline, so they could simply drive and take in the scenery. The piece also notes that the original game’s Horizon Pulse remains unmatched for its playlist, even if Horizon 5’s tunes are enjoyable.

Now playing Forza Horizon 5 every day, the writer says the game has helped them rethink their backlog and accept that some games will call to you only when the time is right. Titles such as Returnal and the Demon’s Souls remake remain waiting for the moment they feel necessary to play, while for now the writer is content to "go drive a car into a sandstorm."

Key Topics

Culture, Forza Horizon, Nissan Skyline, Mexico, Horizon Pulse