I was raised by the TT Games empire, so it quickly becomes obvious during my hands-on that this Lego adventure is something different—a new horizon. There’s another developer building this, a fresh take on combat and platforming, and it instantly looks and feels well put together.
Let’s talk plot first. What we have here is a Lego-ified retelling of Horizon Zero Dawn. As you may have already guessed, the tone is a heck of a lot lighter, even during the darker moments of HZD’s opening act.
Aloy herself is much more chill than the banished orphan, self-seriousness she had in the original article. Similarly, Rost busts out fourth-wall-breaking dad jokes, like not being able to count because he doesn’t have fingers. Lastly, the big bad of the piece, Helis, is a bit on the bumbling side.
what’s here looks and feels instantly well put together.
He almost reminds me of Kaos from the Skylanders games I was raised on. Because his plan for global dominance somehow includes making sunbathing mandatory.
The first big change for me was that healing requires going to a bush that dispenses heart-filling berries. No more earning those off random dead enemies for you, which makes for tougher fights. Why? Because sometimes bushes are in the arena-style brawls, but there were times where they were non-existent.
On the topic of busting plastic heads, all attacks are from your bow, meaning that you can’t go hitting things with speed, as you would with full melee. Attacking means positioning yourself around a target well, and you need to know when to charge because it takes 4 seconds to reach max, and during that time you are rooted to the ground. Then, the idea is to use Focus Vision to pick off weak points on the machines.
Or you can just pick up and throw random explosive barrels to blow up your foes (and friends). Failing that, scoop them kicking and screaming above your head and throw them off a cliff!
Because my co-op partner and I were playing Hero difficulty (i.e., the hardest), we had one or two tough arena brawls. These required a bit of coordination/teamwork, and at least one of us got downed and had to be revived. That tactic might not be a viable option when your butt is being chewed on by dinobots or stabbed by tribes of cultists.
So yeah, I’d say Lego Horizon Adventures is definitely more difficult than your average TT game. Props to the new developers, Guerrilla Games and Studio Gobo, for pushing the limits there for more mature gamers.
That tactic might not be a viable option when your butt is being chewed on by dinobots.
As you’d expect, combat then evolves with what could become a large variety of drip-fed day ruiners. These limited ammo subweapons include a Spreadshot Bow, which fans out 5 arrows at a time. There’s also the double jump-enabling blast boots, which damage foes and burnable vines underneath you.
Later on in the game, when the second player becomes Vaal, we noted that he had his own distinct subweapons as well. Including a boomerang-like spear throw. Lastly, and weirdest of all, was a deployable hot dog stand, which throws exploding hotdogs seemingly at random positions.
Some other interesting wrinkles included the ability to shoot through campfires to tack on flame damage. Much later still, in the Cauldron dungeon moments, you can do something similar by shooting through electric fields to get zombie damage.
These techniques are key if you need to put down peskier machines quickly. Some of our toughest fights involved packs of Watchers shooting homing missiles, which follow you for ages until you are in a safe spot to shoot the projectile. Scrappers can provide an exciting challenge with a ground-based wave attack that has to be jumped or dodged.
Another thing I appreciated and found particularly unique is that quite literally everything is made of Lego—including the background, which TT often neglected to do. The developers also go above and beyond in the audio department with a tonne of contextual voice lines. For example, Aloy almost always says something when she touches water and drops one-liners upon destroying scenery (though I have to say that time-honoured TT tradition of trashing everything seems to have been pared back a bit).
that time-honoured TT tradition of trashing everything seems to have been pared back a bit
You also have to chuckle when she gives herself crap when you make her face plant from a big drop. Moments like those (literally) ground and immerse you that much more in a reactive world.
Speaking of reactiveness, I love the small attention to detail in the visual elements. For example, slogging your way through snow, sand, or small creeks will create little one-block flurries behind Aloy. And, whenever the camera moves in close enough to see, you can spot the odd fingerprint or sticker scuff on these models. Presumably because they’ve been played with too hard by some annoying older sibling of yours.
On the topic of sampling this with younger gamers, I like that basic friendly fire doesn’t actually harm the other person. You really have to be more deliberate if you want to make player 2 go to pieces (which I did). The little ‘uns (and mature gamers alike) will also be pretty happy with the array of skins and village house upgrades available. Earning them all will take ages, and there’s a wide generational appeal for the best ones to chase.
All in all, Horizon used to be a much more serious game and not much in terms of humour. I love that the Lego theme frees up the characters to be wacky and that these new developers are adhering to the classic charming comedy in the original TT Lego games. Much like a well-aimed shot to a Thunderjaw’s core canister, I reckon Lego Horizon Adventures is feeling bang on target already.
Luke travelled to a special demo session at PlayStation AU’s offices for this preview.
