Forza Horizon 4 vs Sea of Thieves: 2026 Edition
Forza Horizon 4 is an open-world racing game from Playground Games (2021) while Sea of Thieves: 2026 Edition is an FPS open-world game from Rare Ltd (2020).
What each one is
Steam files Forza Horizon 4 under Open-World and Racing. In contrast, it files Sea of Thieves: 2026 Edition under FPS and Open-World.
Dynamic seasons change everything at the world’s greatest automotive festival. Go it alone or team up with others to explore beautiful and historic Britain in a shared open world.
Sea of Thieves is a smash-hit pirate adventure game, offering the quintessential pirate experience of plundering lost treasures, intense battles, vanquishing sea monsters and more. Dive in with this revised edition of the game, which includes access to digital bonus media.
At a glance
| Forza Horizon 4 | Sea of Thieves: 2026 Edition | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | 8.4/10 | 8.3/10 |
| Steam rating | Very Positive (91%, 303,167) | Very Positive (89%, 372,567) |
| Critic aggregate | No aggregate | No aggregate |
| Price | Not listed | $39.99 |
| Install size | 80 GB | 100 GB |
| Steam Deck | playable | verified |
| Released | 2021 | 2020 |
| Developer | Playground Games | Rare Ltd |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Forza Horizon 4 vs Sea of Thieves: 2026 Edition, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
Forza Horizon 4Open-world racing gameSea of Thieves: 2026 EditionFPS open-world gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Forza Horizon 4Racing, Open World, DrivingSea of Thieves: 2026 EditionOpen World, Adventure, PiratesThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Forza Horizon 4 ✓Score 8.4 · 91% on SteamSea of Thieves: 2026 EditionScore 8.3 · 89% on SteamThe GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Content and scale
Forza Horizon 4303,167 reviews · 80 GBSea of Thieves: 2026 Edition372,567 reviews · 6 add-ons · 100 GBReach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
Forza Horizon 4Not listedSea of Thieves: 2026 Edition$39.99Read live from Steam and subject to change.
On a Steam Deck
Forza Horizon 4PlayableSea of Thieves: 2026 Edition ✓VerifiedValve's own Deck compatibility rating.
Across the rounds a number can settle, it is level at 1 each. Which one is "better" is the part no figure decides, so we leave it to what you want from the two.
The two on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueForza Horizon 4 and Sea of Thieves: 2026 Edition on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.
2 games have both
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Which to pick, by what you want
- Better on a Steam Deck: Sea of Thieves: 2026 Edition (verified)
- Lighter on storage: Forza Horizon 4 (80 GB)
What they have in common
Both are tagged by Steam players with:
Open WorldMultiplayerOnline Co-OpSingleplayerPvPAdventureExplorationAtmospheric
Where they differ
RacingDrivingAutomobile SimRealisticControllerSimulation
PiratesCo-opSailingNavalPvEMassively Multiplayer
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Forza Horizon 4 is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Sea of Thieves: 2026 Edition is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
System requirements, side by side
| Forza Horizon 4 | Sea of Thieves: 2026 Edition | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum GPU | NVidia 650TI | Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 |
| Minimum CPU | Intel i3-4170 @ 3.7Ghz | Intel i3 4170 @ 3.7 GHz |
| Minimum RAM | 8 GB | 8 GB |
| Install size | 80 GB | 100 GB |
Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Forza Horizon 4 · Sea of Thieves: 2026 Edition.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 1 accessibility feature for Forza Horizon 4 and 1 for Sea of Thieves: 2026 Edition. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
If you like one, also try
Common questions
How different are Forza Horizon 4 and Sea of Thieves: 2026 Edition in scope?
Forza Horizon 4 has drawn 303,167 Steam reviews and installs in 80 GB. Sea of Thieves: 2026 Edition has drawn 372,567 Steam reviews, ships 6 add-ons and installs in 100 GB.
Is Forza Horizon 4 or Sea of Thieves: 2026 Edition better?
By the GamingPickz Score, Forza Horizon 4 rates higher (8.4 to 8.3). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.
Which is cheaper, Forza Horizon 4 or Sea of Thieves: 2026 Edition?
One or both do not have a current listed price, so a straight comparison is not possible. See the table above.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
How we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.