Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a global holiday that originated in Mexico where friends and family gather to celebrate the lives of their loved ones and to support their spiritual journeys.
To pay tribute to the holiday, the Forza Horizon 4 team partnered with three artists, Sam Rodriguez, Juan Puente, and Axis, to share their unique interpretations and to help bring their art to life in-game. Below, learn more about each artist’s creation, their gaming connection, and how you can also celebrate the holiday by downloading new in-game content now available through November 8th.
“Day of The Dead is a celebration of a person’s life and identity. For this piece I wanted to celebrate the various influences of my own art which include graffiti, gaming, and Aztec images. I chose to illustrate a contemporary urban/hip-hop character with these styles so that the piece could feel like an update of our tradition. The mixing of these styles demonstrates who I am as a person. Over the Calaka’s (Skull’s) eyes reads, ‘Vida’ or ‘Life’ because the holiday is about celebrating the lives of our loved ones and accepting death as a natural and necessary life cycle.
One out of a few of my favorite things to celebrate would be gaming. I am an 80’s baby who experienced the evolution of video games. I grew up playing at arcades, laundromats, liquor stores, and home consoles and still look forward to having sessions after work! Aside from the fun I have playing, gaming provides so much visual inspiration and are in my opinion the masterpieces of our time.”
“Being born in Mexico, day of the dead art and lore has always been around in one form or another. Being an artist for almost 3 decades has allowed me to create many versions of famous day of the dead images. When Xbox and the Forza team approached me to do some art for them I already had an idea in mind.
My wife 20 years ago got me into gaming and it’s been integrated into our family for quite some time. We don’t really watch much tv, but the family will get together to play when we have a free moment.”
“I was introduced to Day of the Dead, when I was a kid, through one of my teachers. I was already drawing skulls, but when I found out there was a holiday that used them as decorations, I was blown away. My piece celebrates life and death and the banner in my piece is Latin, which loosely translates to “Slow Death”.
I’ve been playing video games since 1978. I had the Odyssey 2 System, and my neighbor got the Atari 2600 soon after. I think back then I played every single game at least once, both on home systems and in arcades. To this day I often wonder how many quarters I spent from the summer of ’81 to the end of ’85.”
To get the Dia de los Muertos inspired Forza Horizon 4 content for yourself, simply follow the steps below through midnight on November 8th:
- Complete Autumn #Forzathon Challenges
- Go to the Autumn #Forzathon Shop where you’ll see two out of the three shirts available
- Purchase the Dia de los Muertos inspired gear with #Forzathon Points!
Then, on Friday, the third shirt will be available to everyone as an unlocked item in the “Character Customization > Tops” menu.
In addition, keep an eye on @Xbox’s Twitter handle this weekend for a chance to win one of these three custom Xbox One X’s. Official rules: bit.ly/2OpAlTF.
Forza Horizon 4 is the highly anticipated follow-up to 2016’s breakout hit open world driving game Forza Horizon 3. For the first time in the racing and driving genre, experience dynamic seasons in a shared open world. Explore beautiful scenery, collect over 450 cars, and become a Horizon Superstar in historic Britain.
The game is available with Xbox Game Pass and globally on Xbox One and Windows 10. Xbox Game Pass members can play Forza Horizon 4 Standard Edition on Xbox One and Windows 10, as part of their monthly membership. The membership includes over 100 more great games, including highly anticipated new Xbox exclusives the day they’re released, all for one low monthly price.
Haven’t played Forza Horizon 4 yet? Try out the Forza Horizon 4 Demo now.
See the rest of the story on Xbox Wire
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