Games of the Year 2022: Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC

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I always hesitate to put DLC on a list of games of the year but I had a lot of fun with this one so I felt I needed to include it!

The Hot Wheels DLC is the first of at least two new DLC areas that is included in the Forza Horizon 5 add on pass.  When Forza Horizon 5 came out last year I tried it because it was on Game Pass and was surprised that I got pulled in enough to play the entire game and do every event.  By the end of my time with it, I was essentially out of things to do.

The Hot Wheels DLC not only gives me more to do, it also includes an entire new map with multiple biomes and it's all tied together with gigantic life-sized hot wheels tracks.  It's so incredibly evident how much fun the team was having when making this DLC since they were getting to play around with all the Hot Wheels love from childhood but bring it into a completely new context within this game.

I loved my time with it and it has made me even more excited to see what they do with their next DLC map for this game.

If I were adding just the base Forza Horizon 5 to the list it would be very high up, but I'm putting this one more around mid-list ranking since it's a DLC instead of the full game.  I really enjoyed my time with it, but a lot of that comes from the core mechanics already established by the base game:

  1. Elden Ring
  2. FFXIV Endwalker
  3. Citizen Sleeper
  4. The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
  5. Horizon Forbidden West
  6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
  7. Pokémon Legends: Arceus
  8. Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition
  9. Neon White
  10. Halo Infinite
  11. Vampire Survivors
  12. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
  13. Cyberpunk 2077
  14. Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC
  15. Triangle Strategy
  16. Mario Strikers: Battle League
  17. Stray
  18. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
  19. Nobody Saves the World
  20. Unpacking
  21. Total War: Warhammer 3
  22. Tunic
At this point, I'm curious how long this running list will get by year end.  I'm also starting to think about whether I want to do this exercise again next year.  I'm not sure yet.

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