The acclaimed Horizon Zero Dawn, which had a Remastered version released recently, has all the winning elements of a great open-world, action adventure game — a likeable protagonist, a compelling story, an imaginative post-apocalyptic setting and awe-inspiring zoomorphic machines. But how would a child-friendly Lego version play out?
Lego Horizon Adventures is based loosely on the events of Horizon Zero Dawn, which is set in a post-apocalyptic world where zoomorphic machines are going rogue and destroying the world.
Adapted into a very simplified and child-friendly abridged format, Lego Horizon Adventures focuses more on the frivolous activity of smashing stuff and collecting Lego studs, while glossing over the darker elements and complex themes of the original game.
Smashing and bashing
Played in a third-person, fixed camera perspective, LEGO Horizon Adventures features a cute LEGO version of Aloy, the machine-hunting, red-headed protagonist, who leads the way in the fight together with friends found along the way.
As you progress in the game with Aloy, you can unlock and play other characters such as Varl, Teersa and Erend. Each has their own unique weapons and attacks.
The game has Aloy beating up sun-worshipping cultists and evil machines intent on destroying the world. Combat involves melee bashing and a ranged attack, but I found aiming can be rather difficult during intense battles with lots of enemies charging.
Like the original game, there are weak points on the machine that can score extra damage when hit by ranged weapons. In addition, you can pick up and throw other Lego characters as projectiles. This especially useful if they happen to be carrying explosive barrels!
Lego Horizon Adventures offers a brilliant couch co-op or online co-op play for two players. This makes fighting a horde of enemies much easier, especially since each character can be equipped with different skills and types of elemental damage like fire, shock and frost. In other words, great for families and friends to play together.
One drawback of co-op play is that the playable characters are automatically teleported if they are too far from the other playable character. Have no fear, though — since this is a child-friendly and forgiving game, there are plenty of health berries to regain health, and helpful gadgets and explosive projectiles that can be used to repel the enemies.
Lego Horizon Adventures rewards Aloy and friends with bronze, silver and gold Lego studs of varying value when they shoot or bash everything in sight. There are also blueprints of structures to build scattered across the levels, which will reward you with studs but contribute little to the gameplay.
Studs are used to purchase upgrades and costumes for Aloy and friends, as well as cosmetic customisations for the buildings and environments in the village. The cosmetic palette includes design and colour schemes from other Lego worlds, like Ninjago, Village, City and more.
Unlike the original game, Lego Horizon Adventures is not an open-world game. Instead, each level starts at the village of Mother’s Heart, and different areas are progressively unlocked after you complete pre-determined story missions. There is a variety of biomes to explore, including ruins, forests, deserts and the futuristic-looking cauldrons.
The game is generous in dishing out perks for the heroes. These include elemental weapons, destructive gadgets and useful gear, such as Blaster Boots, which can increase the length of jumps and set things on fire. These perks can be found in chests and occasionally by a roaming merchant, but cannot be carried over to another level.
Besides the main story missions, there are also jobs on the village community board that can earn more golden bricks. Unfortunately, these do not add much to the story and are mainly activities like “paint five buildings” or “change seven landscapes”.
There are also Training Grounds where Apex machines can be defeated to collect red bricks for more advanced cosmetics, but unlike the original game where you had to use Aloy’s speed and accuracy to perform challenges, these are merely another machine-beating exercise.
The game offers some simple puzzle-solving in the form of jumping on moving platforms, setting certain obstacles on fire or delivering an electric shock to open cauldron doors, which does not offer much variety.
Chock-a-block
Since it’s a Lego game, expect plenty of silliness with contrived exaggerations and mischief. The fast-paced, hyperactive dialogue and constant bickering can score some chuckles, while villains are portrayed as one-dimensional comical buffoons.
Comedy also comes in the form of the clumsy Varl whose main comedy involves him falling down a lot; the greedy Erend obsessed with donuts and smashing stuff with his hammer; and the elderly Teersa who carries a basket of chickens and tosses explosive farm produce as part of her attacks.
A real treat for Horizon fans is that Aloy in Lego Horizon Adventures is voiced by Ashly Burch, who did a fabulous job voicing Aloy in the original Horizon games.
In this game, she shows off her comedic talent with a high-pitched, breathless and exuberant delivery of snappy comebacks and one-liners for some laugh-out-loud moments.
Lego Horizon Adventures’ graphics are incredibly detailed and the game is probably the best-looking Lego game so far. You can see realistic scratches on the surfaces of the bricks on the characters and stunning reflections of sunlight over the plasticky Lego surfaces. There’s plenty of dynamic detail to take in as well, such as fluttering butterflies, dancing flames and crackling electricity.
What’s most impressive are the machines that are beautifully recreated and rendered using Lego bricks. However, unlike with Horizon Zero Dawn, Lego Horizon Adventures does not let you have any deeper interaction with the machines or a chance to study them — you merely use the Focus to see the highlighted parts and whack them accordingly.
Notably, Lego Horizon Adventures is a pretty short game that can be finished in about seven hours. It’s a relaxing game to play with younger kids but older children used to playing other games that offer more interesting challenges might get bored of its repetitive gameplay.
Lego Horizon Adventures feels like a thinly-disguised advertisement designed to induce a young demographic to desire Lego sets of the cool Horizon machines. Having played it through, I’m not sure this will work.
The repetitive quests and fast-paced “touch-and-go” story with little appreciation of the machines makes it a rather superficial experience. Although bashing everything in sight is fun for a while, the studs are easily available and do not contribute much towards progression, so there’s little motivation to collect them.
Lego Horizon Adventures’ gameplay and story pales in comparison to previous Lego games, such as Lego Lord of the Rings and Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, which were less pretty but were more innovative in terms of gameplay.
TL;DR
Lego Horizon Adventures attempts to appeal to a young demographic with a child-friendly game but offers little in terms of engagement.
With repetitive missions and simple puzzles in a very short duration, it is hard to fully appreciate the cool machines which were so much more appealing in the original Horizon games.
Graphics and voice-acting are top-notch, but apart from the occasionally funny dialogue from the constantly bickering characters, it’s difficult to sustain interest in the game.
One redeeming factor of the game is the ability for couch co-op, which makes it a great bonding activity for the family. True blue Horizon fans might be better off saving up to buy the actual Lego sets of the Horizon machines, or wait for a sale if you want to play this game with your kids since it is pretty pricey for a short game with limited replayability.
Lego Horizon Adventures is available for PC on Steam and PlayStation 5 in the PlayStation Store for S$79.90, and for Nintendo Switch from retailers.
Techgoondu is part of the jury for The Game Awards 2024! Cast your own votes at www.thegameawards.com, and catch the show over various online channels on December 13, 8:30 am Singapore time. This year’s Game of the Year nominees include Astro Bot, Black Myth: Wukong, and more!
