Earlier today, it was announced that as part of the Series 17 update, Forza Horizon 4 will be getting a free battle royale mode on December 12th. This new mode is called The Eliminator and will pit 72 players against each other on the main map area of Forza Horizon 4.
Forza Horizon 4 was released in October of last year and is the latest addition to the Forza Horizon franchise. Though it did not stray too far away from the original Forza formula, this game was received highly by both fans and critics, as seen in Game Rant's Forza Horizon 4 review. It featured environments that would gradually change from season to season, a multitude of online content, and cooperative gameplay, not to mention large amount of cars to collect.
Ever since its release, Forza Horizon 4 has had a lot of additional content added to the main game, but The Eliminator will feature different mechanics specifically tailored towards this new mode. At the start of each round, all players will start off in a 1965 Mini Cooper, which is considered a "level 1 car."
As the round progresses, players will be able to upgrade their vehicle to a faster car by way of air-drops that appear at random spots all across the map. Given the popularity of Forza Horizon 4's online gameplay, this new mode is sure to excite players.
Not unlike other battle royale modes, The Eliminator features a limited play area that gets smaller and smaller as the round goes on. Once the map reaches its smallest size, a marker is placed and the remaining players have to race to that point. Whoever crosses the finish line first is the winner, while everyone else is eliminated.
Seeing as battle royale style games have dominated a large part of the gaming industry for several years now, it's not surprising that a popular and mainstream franchise like Forza would choose to include a battle royale option as part of their list of online game modes. It may not be released yet, but going off of the description alone, it sounds like players could have quite a bit of fun with this mode and would be a welcome addition to Forza Horizon 4's list of online multiplayer modes.
Having said this, it's also easy to see why players might seem a bit aggravated with the addition of a battle royale mode. There are some that feel that battle royale gameplay has invaded many different franchises and as a result has become a very tired concept. However, so long as the mechanics of any game are able to work well with certain modes, then there's no reason not to include a battle royale mode so long as it's fun to play and again, coincides with the mechanics. Forza Horizon 4 features sandbox mechanics that have excited fans ever since the first trailer was released, thus with a game that features such a vast, open environment, it makes sense that a battle royale mode could work with this kind of game.
Forza Horizon 4 is out now for PC and Xbox One.