I will admit I entered my preview of Lego Horizon Adventures with a sense of cynicism. My thoughts were somewhere along the lines of: Did the Horizon series really need a kid-friendly adaptation? Who is the target market for this game? Is this just a re-telling of Horizon with Lego-fied graphics and gameplay? I am glad to have had my expectations shot through a cannon and into the sea during the course of my preview.
Lego Horizon Adventures is far more ambitious, far more beautiful, and far more fun than it has any right to be. If you’ve got preconceptions about its existence, you might like to consider scrubbing them away, because this game has the potential to be genuinely brilliant – not just as a Lego game, and not just as a Horizon spin-off.
From the start, Lego Horizon Adventures knows what it wants to be. It begins with the birth of Aloy, as in Horizon Zero Dawn, and then it throws the Lego baby out with the bathwater, as it builds out a new tale in the world of Horizon, buoyed by a bouncy sense of humour, and genuinely stunning environments.
The game is immediately striking, as you walk amongst Lego trees and shrubs, and stand in streams, watching little Lego bricks ripple out around you. It’s bright and lovely in every aspect, and there’s detail packed into all corners. Guerrilla and Studio Gobo have created a Lego world that near-perfectly reflects Horizon, complete with recognisable real-world Lego bricks and bits.
Read: Horizon Forbidden West review – a breathtaking journey
It’s a wonderful backdrop to play out the adventures of this new, lighter-hearted Aloy. By nature, Lego Horizon Adventures is much sillier than its source material. While the world is largely the same, characters tend to be more flippant, and share funny snippets of dialogue filled with non sequiturs and slapstick. There’s a reoccurring gag about a sandwich. There’s references to modern day conspiracy theorists. Death is treated as a silly ol’ thing.
In lieu of more serious themes, you can revel in roaming carefree, shooting arrows at everything, wandering around fields and up cliffs, all while uncovering treasure and easter eggs. If you’ve got a second player – and I did, in the form of Steph Panecasio, GamesHub Managing Editor – you’ll be able to wander this world together, fighting back against strange cultists and beasts, and occasionally arguing about which way to go.
In two-player co-op, Lego Horizon Adventures is even more fun, and doubly as silly. Playing as Rost and then Varl, your secondary player will be able to run around and help out with puzzles, and even “deconstruct” you if you get too far off-screen. What results is plenty of banter, annoying friendly fire (“Steph, please stop shooting at me.”) and occasionally, a very satisfactorily-won battle against machines.
For those who enjoy a good platformer (shoutout Astro Bot), there is also plenty to enjoy in the structure of this game, which revolves around quests. From a home base, you’ll set out on a variety of missions, the first of which were centred around rescuing folks from cultists. In these missions, you’ll earn gold Lego bricks and uncover other collectibles, before setting out on a new adventure.
If you’re familiar with Lego games, you’ll know most of what Lego Horizon Adventures has to offer in structure and tone – but in other aspects, it seems poised to eclipse its predecessors. While designed as a Lego spin-off, it also utilises the more cinematic, story-oriented focus of Horizon to create a more compelling, layered tale.
Lego Horizon Adventures was not distinctly on my radar prior to my preview. While I love the Horizon series, it felt like an inessential spin-off that wouldn’t add much to the story. After playing the game, I was glad to be wrong. Across its opening hour, it showed a real sense of spirit and creativity, and if it can maintain its momentum into its next chapters, it will certainly be a novel, all-ages spin on Horizon.
Stay tuned for more on this upcoming game.
