Lego Horizon Adventures is a project co-developed by Guerilla Games and Studio Gobo, Studio Gobo has worked on a number of different games before this such as Hogwarts Legacy and Hyper Scape. The Horizon series is the latest to receive the Lego style game treatment and was released on 14th November for all platforms.
Same Same But Different
Like every other artform that the Lego Games have made adaptations of, this game also retells the events of the first game Horizon Zero Dawn but in a more playful, nuanced way. They have added some humor and took some liberties from the way it was told in the original to ultimately make it a fun and friendly experience.
While liberties are taken the story still remains cohesive, digestible and fun for both players who have experienced the 2018 masterpiece and for those being introduced to the series for the first time.
Each of the missions go through the iconic areas of the game such as the green lands of the sacred lands, the snow laden mountainous regions and of course the sun bathed deserts. Each of which have lots of little nooks containing chests, enemies such as machines or cultists or objects to break or collect.
Creative Gameplay
While the general gameplay is what we’ve come to expect from the Lego games where we can use the iconic weapons of Aloy but in an isometric setting. We can use her bow and have the ability to throw bombs or other objects at enemies in combat.
Where the game has lackings is in the level designs, as mentioned before while all of the iconic areas are showcased. They mostly have a predictable design which takes away from the want to explore. Every level has a set path with one or two short paths that contain goodies but that’s about it.
The game also encourages us to play around with whatever costumes we collect through natural progression. This comes in the form of mini quests or missions that take place in the Hub world.
There are missions where we play fetch with the dog, where we dress up as someone else, or complete missions with a condition such as wearing a specific costume and use a specific weapon. We can also change how our hub world, Mother’s Heart, looks such as adding dragons that sit atop the houses, add hotdog stands or completely change the dress code of everyone in the hub.
The Breath Of Fresh Air With The Characters
Even though the character interactions are short throughout the campaign what is consistent is the humor and how distinct they made each character feel. It also helps that all of the original voice actors from Horizon Zero Dawn reprise their roles with more freedom of expression due to the nature of the game.
The exception to this is the character of Sylens, one of the most important characters to the original story however the voice actor behind the character had tragically passed away before the start of development.
Another amazing thing is the fact that we can play as some of the cast featured in the original game such as Varl the companion we gain from the beginning, Teersa one of the overseers of the clan and Erend.
Something Glaring Misses
What is somewhat a disappointment is the absence of any puzzles or easter eggs to find, both of which are what are expected to be in Lego games. Another point of contention is the fact that the red bricks have been relegated to only unlocking costumes or customization items while they could previously unlock fun cheats.
These lackings reflect poorly on the general experience as they were fully present in previous Lego games thus causing players to make comparisons between them and viewing this game’s features as inferior or unfinished.
Overall, this game ticks most of the boxes that we’ve come to expect from Lego games but the exclusion of any easter eggs or puzzles have caused a significant gap between this game and its peers. Hopefully Studio Gobo and Guerilla Games take note and try to include these features in the Forbidden West Lego game if they ever decide to release one.
