Lego Horizon Adventures Review

I do love me a little Horizon Zero Dawn. It’s satisfying, gorgeous open environments invite a sense of wonder, uncovering secrets while a bevy of robot dinosaurs roam around you. Sure, Horizon: Forbidden West fumbled the narrative ever so slightly compared to its superior predecessor, but it remains a beautiful series with a lead character deserving of more screen time. Which is why I was pleasantly surprised when Sony announced Lego Horizon Adventures, a new take on Horizon Zero Dawn’s dystopian narrative that replaces metal and bone with colourful plastic bricks. As much as I expected an abridged edition of Aloy’s origins, I had hoped the colour and pageantry of previous Lego experiences would mesh well with Horizon’s ideas. Lego Horizon Adventures, however, strips back a little too much in its attempt to build something new.

Aloy’s journey begins similarly to Guerrilla Games’ original vision, with our young protagonist living out her days on post-apocalyptic Earth with father-figure Rost guiding her until she’s old enough to venture out into the wider world. There, giant robots of varying nature await, along with the small community of Mother’s Heart where Aloy hopes to discover her true origins and the mystery surrounding her birth mother.

Given its Lego transformation, much of Horizon’s intricate storytelling has been left by the wayside. Gone are the twists and turns, the fact that Aloy and Rost were cast out by the tribe, Aloy’s journey from the Proving trials, and the much deeper exploration of Earth’s ugly past. Instead, we’re treated to a quick explanation of a rival tribe that kidnaps a bunch of Mother’s Heart community members, leading Aloy on a quest to save them all and the world at large from a threat to the environment.

The lumbering giant

There are four main worlds with a handful of levels across each area, all selectable from the hub world that is Mother’s Heart. As you venture out, each level follows a similar theme involving platforming, exploration and combat encounters, with the occasional underground robot lair or a more creative boss battle. Aloy has her trusty bow as her weapon of choice and her focus tool to highlight important areas of worth and weaknesses to aim for on the backs of enemy dinos, while the three remaining characters you can play as bring their own unique weapons and abilities to the fore. To explain them would spoil the fun of discovery, but safe to say they are distinct enough that it’s fun to give them all a go.

Lego Horizon Adventures looks the part. Every piece of the isometric environment looks like it’s been built from the imagination of a child, taking the core designs of Aloy’s Earth and its robot inhabitants and recreating them creatively in brick form. It’s wonderful to watch in motion, traditional Lego Movie inspired character animations gorgeously backlit by dynamic lighting and an abundance of plastic colours. It’s arguably the best-looking Lego game out there, more so because of the dedication to every piece of the world being a Danish construction block instead of a mixture of different design philosophies.

Lego Horizon Adventures aims to have fun within the world of overgrown environments, silly robots and a small cast of characters with unique abilities, and for that it can’t be faulted. Going in expecting a direct translation ignores what makes the Lego games enjoyable in the first place, comical undertones and sight gags with an abundance of colour. But as someone who considers themselves a member of the Horizon Appreciation Society (I’m sure it exists somewhere), I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed in how far the story has been stripped back. The story is a simple good versus evil edition of Aloy’s origin, removing a considerable number of locations, characters and sides stories that made the original journey so memorable. I know we’re talking about a children’s game, but considering the dedication Lego has previously made in translating other IP with reverence and narrative parity, it feels like a strange misstep here.

Just like old times

More than that, by reducing the story down to its bare minimum, the overall adventure can be completed almost in one sitting under normal difficulty settings. Playing cooperatively, it could be completed even faster. Granted, we’re talking a game aimed at an audience with an attention span considerably less than an adult, but given how much content Studio Gobo and Guerrilla had to work with, it would have been nice to at least experience a larger cast, especially given the tradition of stacking Lego games with playable skins. You can deck Aloy and company out in a variety of clothing, from Mother’s Heart appropriate gear to shark costumes and Lego Ninjago armour, but it doesn’t hit the same as seeing familiar friends or foes to play around with.

Lego Horizon Adventures makes up for some of its narrative shortcomings by making every dinosaur encounter manically enjoyable. You can certainly try to sneak around and take out enemies the way the original game intended, but here you’ll largely be jumping and shooting everything in a more traditional action sense. Every unique weapon and ability Aloy and company comes across is engaging, from freezing enemies in place to throwing chicken bombs and loosing rapid-fire arrows. It’s pure fun, something the kids will get a kick out of, but I still enjoyed tearing down Chargers and Scrappers in a satisfying barrage of fire and explosions.

The more elaborate scenarios, from the colossal Thunderjaw to cunning Corruptor drones, fall into the boss battle category that takes a little more planning and precision depending on your chosen level of difficulty (from incredibly easy to decently challening). You’ll be able to heal from nearby fruit trees that litter every environment but, unlike most other Lego games, if you do fall you won’t just respawn when playing solo and will have to restart from a nearby checkpoint. It’s a little easier when playing cooperatively, which is the recommended way to play, but if you’re a solo artist like I am it’s something to keep in mind instead of going in all arrows blazing.

So, you guys come here often?

The best areas within Lego Horizon Adventures, in keeping with the original game, are the robotic underground structures of the old world. These metal walls house more interesting platforming and tighter combat moments compared to the rest of the game, though again things have been simplified down to simply ‘get from A to B’, and the only puzzle to solve is where to find a battery to throw at a locked door to shock it open. In fact, there’s a strange lack of puzzle solving and enjoyable hidden secrets, with every treasure chest just another lot of studs or a useable item. It would have been nice to play with some of Horizon’s other ideas, like messages left behind from the old world given an appropriate Lego twist, or using your Focus to uncover hidden paths instead.

You’ll eventually unlock bonus objectives, battle scenarios involving more deadly robot varieties from the prior levels you’ve explored, but given the linear nature of the game you can’t just go off and explore to your heart’s content. The only thing you can really control is the look of Mother’s Heart itself, building out the town with silly Lego Town constructs or Christmas trees and changing up colour schemes. Younger eyes will find this a more engaging bit of fun, as I quickly flicked through the available options and largely ignored them save for a passing snowman or streetlight just for laughs. One later area does have a dancefloor with a solid remix of the original Horizon theme playing along to the lights and sounds, but it all feels so fleeting and inconsequential.

Final Thoughts

I wanted to love Lego Horizon Adventures more than I did. I still enjoyed its silly take on the story and laughed on plenty of occasions, despite some of Aloy’s dialogue coming off like a cosplaying Tiny Tina (it’s the same voice actress after all). But it all ended so soon and felt so strangely bare that once the credits rolled, I was left confused. Surely, we’ve reached a point where Lego games should be bolder, which begs the question whether Horizon was the right IP to bring across, but I digress. The experience is enjoyable enough that I can happily recommend it to younger audiences looking for a new Lego voyage to go on, it’s technically sound and easy to play, but anyone hoping for something more, or coming in having played all of the Horizon series so far, may leave disappointed.

Reviewed on PS5 // Review code supplied by publisher

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