#Lego Horizon Adventures – Destructoid

Lego has actually develop into a staple within the online game world through the years, taking on standard worlds and including the extra informal and foolish Lego allure. Final yr, the Lego universe expanded a bit extra exterior of the field with cart-racer Lego 2K Drive and the open-world survival Minecraft-like Lego Fortnite. However the subsequent chapter within the Lego universe, Lego Horizon Adventures, is a bit exterior the traditional Lego components.

Whereas earlier action-adventure Lego video games have taken place contained in the worlds of legendary film franchises (Star Wars, Marvel, Jurassic World, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and so on.) Lego Horizon Adventures is exclusive in that it serves as an abridged reinterpretation of the unique Horizon Zero Daybreak.

My largest concern going into Lego Horizon Adventures was that I wasn’t positive how properly the world of Horizon would translate right into a Lego sport. As nice of a sport Horizon Zero Daybreak is, it’s primarily due to its unbelievable story, huge stunning open world, and fast-paced and difficult gameplay. All of those are issues that Lego video games sometimes strip out when changing to the Lego universe.

Lego Horizon Adventures (PC, PS5 [Reviewed], Change)
Developer: Guerilla Video games and Studio Gobo
Writer: PlayStation Studios and Sony Interactive Leisure
Launched: November 14th, 2024
MSRP: $59.99

Lego Horizon Adventures begins off identical to Zero Daybreak. For these not conversant in Horizon, the world is a post-apocalyptic United States 1,000 years sooner or later. Humanity has been scattered and compelled to kind primitive tribes that attempt to combine the know-how of the “Outdated World” into their on a regular basis life. By way of story, I can’t stress sufficient how a lot of the story of Horizon Zero Daybreak is omitted, trivialized, or just not defined in Lego Horizon Adventures. I do know that’s frequent for the Lego video games, however I simply need to level out that for those who haven’t performed the unique and are fascinated by doing so sooner or later, I’d advocate doing so earlier than leaping into the Lego world of Horizon.

As a substitute of roaming round exploring the mysterious world, you’ll play by principally linear ranges break up into completely different areas. Between every stage, you’ll return to your tribal village the place you possibly can work together with NPCs on the village—although there’s not a lot purpose to take action—in addition to rebuild the village the way you need. Then, head to the doorway into the world of the extent you need to embark on and repeat the method. Every of the degrees in a specified zone is analogous in design and format, however not fully equivalent. There are just a few facet paths you possibly can go right down to open a chest filled with studs however for essentially the most half, the degrees are fully linear and really fast, with each solely taking a couple of minutes to finish.

After I first found the village constructing characteristic, I had hoped it might be significant and unlock new interactions or much more programs to discover. As a substitute, it’s principally simply beauty fluff that permits you to select from a wide range of prebuilt buildings with completely different coats of paint—principally themes from different Lego franchises like Lego Metropolis and Lego Ninjago—to throw down in your village as you full a sure variety of missions. It’s primarily a moneysink—err, studsink—for spending your foreign money earned by taking part in by the degrees, however for essentially the most half, all the pieces is simply ornament.

Embarking on a mission will take you on a linear journey by the world, progressing part of the story as you run by the extent doing a little gentle platforming, amassing studs, and combating off numerous enemies that spawn all through the extent together with humanoid cultists and staple animal-like machines that Horizon is thought for. The machines have distinctive weak factors just like their counterparts in Horizon Zero Daybreak. When focused, you’ll inflict large injury to the machines, permitting you to take them down a lot faster.

The gameplay itself is about what I anticipated from a Lego model of Horizon. You maintain sq. to nock again an arrow then hearth it in any course, aiming along with your thumbstick. As you kill enemies they will drop numerous powerups resembling a model of your bow that catches your enemy on hearth on hit. There are three factor sorts: hearth, ice, and lightning. Some enemies are weak to sure factor sorts, however even when they aren’t they will nonetheless typically be taken down in just a few hits along with your bow. Hitting them with the factor they’re weak to will typically simply minimize that down to 1 or two hits.

There are additionally utility gadgets you possibly can decide as much as additional broaden your arsenal. There are all kinds of things—typically foolish ones—that enable to have interaction in fight in a wide range of methods. One such merchandise acted as a large hammer that allowed you to slam into your enemies. One other had you shortly construct a, uh, sizzling canine stand, the place the seller threw explosive sizzling canine at close by enemies. Yep, sizzling canine bombs.

I’d describe the fight in Lego Horizon Adventures as higher than many of the Lego video games, however general nonetheless a bit missing. My largest gripe with the fight is there isn’t any evade or dodge roll kind of mechanic, which I really feel would actually add to the fight right here. Numerous the enemies do telegraphed assaults that present up as an enormous AoE circle or a line that you need to get out of the way in which of earlier than the enemy fees at you. However with none kind of dodge motion, you need to cease attacking after which simply run out of the way in which. It slows down the fight and at many occasions I nonetheless discovered myself hitting a button to try to dodge out of the way in which simply because it actually feels such as you’re supposed to have the ability to.

I feel my largest problem with Lego Horizon Adventures is that I don’t actually know who it was made for. Though it’s an abridged reinterpretation of the Zero Daybreak story, far an excessive amount of has been omitted, watered down, and even simply downright skipped or not defined to make the story anyplace close to as coherent or significant. For those who haven’t performed Horizon Zero Daybreak, this actually isn’t simply another substitute to the expertise. There’s an excessive amount of lacking, and all the pieces that makes Horizon Zero Daybreak the good sport that it’s is solely not there in its Lego rendition.

And on the flip facet, you probably have performed by and loved the unique sport, what purpose is there to expertise the watered-down Lego model? For many Lego video games, the complete storylines for the video games (as soon as once more, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Jurassic World, and so on) merely don’t have playable media in which you’ll discover their worlds. Becoming a member of the Lego video games universe permits you to truly play in these worlds for the primary time whereas in any other case they will solely be explored by their motion pictures. That’s not the case right here; if you wish to play within the Horizon universe, you possibly can play Horizon Zero Daybreak and even Horizon Forbidden West.

To be clear, there’s actually an viewers for Lego Horizon Adventures. For those who’re an enormous fan of the Lego sport components and both love Horizon Zero Daybreak or have no real interest in ever taking part in by it, there’s some enjoyable available blasting by the sport, particularly you probably have somebody to co-op it with. However for me, I shortly discovered the complete expertise very repetitive and never a real illustration of what makes Horizon particular. Look, I’m a Lego fan. However this time round, I really feel it actually doesn’t do the supply materials justice.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}