Between a block and a hard place
I never thought I would be typing the words “LEGO Horizon” into a review document, yet here we are. Sony definitely wants the Horizon series to be their flagship game. It bundled the games with consoles, it has remastered the original game in record time, and Aloy is front and center in most of their marketing. However, seeing a LEGO game that recaps the original is something I never even imagined would be a thing. What is even weirder is that it is coming to nearly every platform outside of that one from Microsoft. LEGO Horizon Adventures is an anomaly to me, but the question is, is it any good?
LEGO Horizon Adventures is a retelling of the original game in LEGO form. That may sound obvious, but I was actually expecting for this to be its own adventure. Instead, the 12-hour campaign takes an abridged version of the main story and condenses it down into bite-sized portions. There are familiar locales and characters, but as one would imagine, the tone is much less serious than the original game. It is more playful and tells the story from a different direction. I appreciated that, this is a LEGO game after all, we don’t need super serious moments when the characters are bobbing around.
MSRP: $59.99
Platforms: PlayStation (reviewed), Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $39.99
The performances here are pretty good. Most of the main characters are voiced by the same people that did it in the original game with just lighter delivery. It works surprisingly well in most cases. The world is also familiar as players will traverse landscapes from the original game recreated in classic LEGO block form. The game looks fantastic, and I would love to know how it runs on Switch. On PS5 Pro it was blazing fast with some gorgeous colors. They did an excellent job of capturing the look and feel of Horizon with a LEGO appeal.
As a game, LEGO Horizon Adventures will be familiar for anyone that has ever touched a LEGO game. How many people is that now, likely around zero. Aloy will move through the world, performing platforming and taking down enemies, and that is about it. There are a few hidden chests off the main path, but there aren’t any puzzles or truly hidden areas to dig into. Sadly, the levels are fairly linear with very little in the way of exploration.
This adventure also changes up the dynamic of how dying works. Instead of losing a set amount of studs, Horizon Adventures instead just sends players back to the most recent checkpoint. This is a double-edged sword as it keeps more studs to spend, but forces players to re-do anything throughout the level, that includes killing enemies and building structures. I am not sure I actually prefer this, since I do not enjoy replaying sections, especially after just doing it. Still, I didn’t die that often in the game, so your mileage may vary.
There are two separate skill trees in the game. One is overall specific that will unlock things like more health and longer attack effects. The second is character specific. These are used for Aloy and companions to upgrade their specific abilities. Speaking of other characters, lots of familiar faces will appear and most will be playable throughout the game. It is fun to swap around and collect studs to unlock new outfits, but I do wish there was a little bit more. This feels like an early LEGO game outside of the voiceovers. The feature set feels lacking when compared to the most recent games in the series.
Combat is fun most of the time. The bigger battles are more interesting as they implement multiple attack points, much like the core game. Enemies also have various elemental weaknesses. There are five difficulties, and for the harder ones, this is a necessity. In the lower ones though, players can get by simply by perseverance. Still, it feels good to attack and the hits have impact.
LEGO Horizon Adventures is a weird game. On one side it is well-designed, looks good, and the voice performances are outstanding. On the other hand, I am not sure it will have a wide appeal. Horizon is the most successful polarizing game I have ever seen. Everyone has played it and it feels like a majority do not care for it. Combine that with a LEGO game and you get an awkward experience that feels like the definition of “who is this for?” Still, it is a solid game that anyone who wants more of that world will certainly enjoy.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
