In a situation that echoes the reveal and subsequent Switch launch of Ori and the Blind Forest from Microsoft, we admit to feeling a tad shocked at the revelation that Sony’s LEGO Horizon Adventures would not just be released on PS5 and Windows, but also Nintendo’s humble hybrid. Sure, this isn’t the full-fat Horizon experience – PlayStation and PC owners keep that to themselves for the time being – but it’s comfortably the closest we’ve come to Sony migrating its first-party lineup over to another major console platform.
The result is a mixed bag. Lego Horizon Adventures starts as an incredibly fun, visually arresting dive into Guerrilla Games’ flagship franchise; one that benefits from a more playful tone compared to the series proper, with faithful elements that will please fans of Aloy and Lego alike. But it’s also quite a shallow, repetitive game that leans heavily on a rather basic structure, with dull level design and severely limited stealth elements putting a dampener on the experience.
For those who might not be familiar with the original Horizon Zero Dawn, developers Studio Gobo and Guerrilla have essentially taken the same story and ‘Lego-fied’ it, filling in the background for newcomers but understandably not approaching the same level of depth as the original. At the very least, the main cast is all here, including Aloy, Rost, Teersa, and Sylens.
Several voice actors from the main series make a return, and honestly, the overall brighter tone is a welcome change from a franchise that always took itself a bit too seriously. Ashley Burch, in particular, is clearly having a wonderful time portraying a more lighthearted version of Aloy, and while you could argue that the game is a slight overcorrection tonally at times, it feels more appropriate for a series that has you hunting robot dinosaurs.
The structure of the game sees you trot off on short adventures from a central hub area known as Mother’s Heart. Here, you can decorate buildings and structures to your heart’s content once you start unlocking customisation options by progressing through the story. Dedicated areas will also allow you to upgrade your characters’ abilities, change costumes (including get-ups from LEGO Ninjago, City, and more), or complete short objectives for rewards. It’s a charming place, but one that we eventually resented having to revisit after every level, traipsing through the same environment over and over again with little to occupy our time once we finished applying the necessary upgrades.
Thankfully, the missions themselves fare a bit better, but it’s mostly thanks to the chaotic combat and impressive presentation. Make no mistake, Lego Horizon Adventures is a seriously pretty experience. The resolution gets a little muddy when playing in handheld mode, but when docked, it easily stands as one of the Switch’s best-looking games. The lighting from bonfires and torches is fantastic, and the subtle depth-of-field effect reminds us of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, but it’s arguably even more effective here. The 30fps frame rate is also solid throughout, maintaining reliability during even the busiest of encounters.
What lets the game down significantly, however, is the level design itself. Once you finish a handful of missions, you’ll start to realise that every level contains the same elements: a linear pathway broken up by treasure chests, ziplines, climbable ledges, and buildable structures, before ending with an open area in which you clear out waves of human enemies and machine dinosaurs. That’s it, and while the approachable, fun combat mechanics do help bolster the experience, the game starts to feel incredibly repetitive after a short while. It looks gorgeous, but it’s also remarkably limited in terms of interactive environments. In other words, look but don’t touch.
As you’d expect from a Lego game, combat is very much stripped-down compared to the regular Horizon games, but the developers have made it work quite well. Four playable characters become available as you make your way through the story (with couch and online co-op allowing for mix-and-match combinations), including Aloy, Varl, Teersa, and Erend. Each boasts unique weaponry, and you can also grab new variations throughout your journey that take advantage of elemental powers such as fire and ice. Temporary abilities can also be used in conjunction with your main weapon, such as Gravity Bombs and Boost Boots.
With the machine enemies in particular, you’re encouraged to focus on hitting their weak spots. You can easily highlight these by pressing ‘L’ to quickly scan them, but the bright yellow parts are usually pretty obvious anyway. Otherwise, it’s simply a case of managing three or four enemies at once, avoiding their attacks while launching your offensive. Again, as you might expect from a Lego game aimed at a younger crowd, it’s shallow and somewhat repetitive, but it always feels satisfying, especially when you manage to destroy multiple targets in one go with a carefully aimed Gravity Bomb.
What’s particularly disappointing, however, is the severe lack of stealth gameplay. This is a key mechanic in the mainline Horizon games and it just isn’t up to scratch here. Yes, you can hide in areas of grass (and it’s quite amusing to watch your character morph into a tuft of grass), but your cover is immediately blown once you decide to launch an arrow at an enemy. You can break their line of sight and hide again, of course, but the game would much rather you tackle encounters head-on — it’s certainly much more fun that way.
We suspect that the developers knew they were onto a winner with the combat, as the game also introduces more challenging variations on encounters called ‘Apex Hunts’ as you get further into the story. These contain specific machine targets flanked by standard enemies, and it’s a lot of fun chipping away at the boss’ health while managing the rest of the flock. It’s just a shame that there’s no way to replay these missions at will, as it would prove a great way to rebuild any diminishing supplies of cash.
Conclusion
Clocking in at a fairly short six-to-eight hours, Lego Horizon Adventures offers up frequent, brief bursts of fun with its excellent combat encounters. However, this is wrapped up in an experience that feels way too shallow and repetitive to recommend to anyone other than the most enthusiastic Horizon and Lego fans. It’s clear that the intention is to woo new, younger gamers to Sony’s flagship franchise, but if you already own Zero Dawn and Forbidden West on PlayStation, we can’t see any reason why you’d want to check this one out. Mind you, if all you’ve got is a Switch, then this endearingly light-hearted introduction will have to do for now. It could have been so much more, though.