Let’s get right down to brass studs quickly. Even after a short claws-on with it, Lego Voyager sure seems well put together. Instead of leaning on big-name licenses, Light Brick Studio is taking a big orange separator to the concept of plastic fantastic movie tie-ins and is instead focusing entirely on the joy of being a brick.
This is an intimate puzzle-platformer built around physics, creativity and 2P cooperation, all filtered through the team’s trademark sense of warmth. Unless you play your two-player games like I do, in which case the focus is also on the joy of being a prick. Just every once in a while; typically when bottomless pits are involved. For comedy reasons.
But I digress. Whereas LBS’ last title, Builder’s Journey, explored family bonds, Voyager turns its cycloptic gaze towards friendship. It is a quiet, dialogue-free experience that lets you and a partner quite literally roll through the story, finding fun and meaning in whatever way…well, clicks.
Brick Rollin’
Movement is instantly striking and unorthodox. You are not a minifig stomping around, you are a 1×1 block with a blinking eye, forever tumbling in whichever direction you tilt the stick. It feels clumsy at first, but that is the point. Light Brick has taken the chaos of being a lump of plastic and tuned it into something surprisingly endearing. Within minutes it goes from awkward to oddly elegant, especially once your equally awkward accomplice gets into sync.
In practice, tumbling is both a toy and a test. Sometimes it makes you laugh as you careen into hazards, other times it forces you to think differently about how to approach obstacles. The slapstick energy is unmistakably LEGO.
Stud Finder
Of course, being LEGO, you can snap onto things. Any uncovered stud is an opportunity to wedge upright into place, whether it is a loose piece lying in the environment or your co-op partner themselves. The result is emergent creations ranging from precarious towers to outright plastic monstrosities.
More deliberate building comes via a dedicated mode that lets you rotate and place bricks with intent. Early puzzles involved stacking planks into makeshift bridges, or flinging blocks to weigh down a drawbridge. Later, a treeful of LEGO plums became the material for a self-built staircase. It is simple at first, but hints at some properly inventive possibilities further down the track.
Piece and Harmony
Communication in Voyager is handled not through words but through singing. Tap a button and your block lets out a nonverbal chirp that changes with context. Near an object it might suggest curiosity, when heard in unison it can feel like celebration. It is both a tool for pointing things out and a surprisingly charming layer of expression.
I experienced just how powerful this was in my session, paired not with a friend or family member but with a fellow games journo I had never met and had no voice contact with for the duration of my play experience. What could have been frustrating turned into something pretty magical, reminiscent of my first time with Journey on PS3.
Our wordless cooperation meant intuition and perception had to do all the heavy lifting. Together we solved puzzles, provided blocks to one another when we were separated on different planes, shared victories and even indulged in the occasional bout of playful trolling.
Pro tip: Never put me in charge of a lever that can either create a safe bridge via a pneumatic twisting platform or ping whatever is on said platform at the horizon. Fun times.
Brick Buddies Forever
Light Brick is going all-in on co-op. The game supports couch play, full online play and a friend pass system so that only one person needs to own a copy (a goodwill rarity that I will always give major props to). This design ensures Voyager is always about collaboration, never an optional extra.
The understated narrative reflects this. A rocket launch gone awry scatters debris across the world, and following its trail becomes the journey you share. Along the way, the story gently explores the highs and lows of friendship, from the joy of dreaming together to the challenge of drifting apart. It is not heavy-handed, but it gives context to the playfulness.
The Final Build
Presentation is top notch. Every set piece in Voyager is made of real LEGO geometry, meaning you could cobble it all yourself if you had the bricks / time / OCD levels to do so. The visuals have a clean, realistic sheen, with tiny birds, flowing water and soft light making the world feel alive. Add a mellow, low-key soundtrack that never overwhelms and you get a game that looks and sounds gorgeous without losing its toybox charm.
Potential issues are few. But death carrying no penalty might grate on the Capital G Gamers. Rolling off a cliff just plops you back on the ledge, keeping things breezy, and LBS has said the aim is for balance. The puzzles ramp up, but never to the point of excluding anyone. The point is to have fun together, not bash your little yellow head piece against a brick wall, I suspect.
After half an hour with the demo I came away surprised at just how much it charmed me. I rarely use the word, but Lego Voyager is genuinely delightful. It is quirky, gorgeous to look at and packed with moments of emergent humour that made me laugh out loud. If the full campaign can expand on the early ideas and keep stacking new tricks, Light Brick might just deliver the most heartfelt and memorable LEGO game yet.
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