REVIEW – Innovation can either build or dismantle – Lego Horizon Adventures lands somewhere in the middle. It creates a vibrant and charming world, but a few missing “pieces” prevent it from achieving perfection. Can the brick-by-brick charm offset its flaws? One thing’s certain: players will have plenty to deconstruct and rebuild in what is ultimately an entertaining, though far from flawless, experience.

It took me a while to get a feel for Lego Horizon Adventures. Playing it was like watching a film adaptation of a favorite book: it hits the key points, reinterprets a few characters and events, and wraps it all up in a shiny, abridged package. As with many Hollywood adaptations, it handles the source material with care but never reaches the same heights.

After 21 hours to achieve 100% completion, I found myself appreciating the game’s stunning world and extensive customization options. However, predictable level design and a lack of content beyond the campaign often made me feel like I was assembling a Lego set with a few pages missing from the instruction manual.

A Brick-Built Journey into Horizon’s World

Horizon’s world translates beautifully into Lego form. Each level brims with charm and cleverly reimagined elements: climbable ruins, abandoned roads, and occasional Lego police stations or iconic constructions. While these additions sometimes detract from Horizon’s original atmosphere, they don’t diminish the overall experience. The environments still capture the essence of Horizon’s world remarkably well.

This is especially true of the soundtrack. The music is phenomenal, borrowing heavily from Horizon Zero Dawn’s original score while adding unique flair with EDM and pop-inspired tracks. A standout piece, “Post-Apocalyptic Dance Party,” feels like a natural fit alongside “Everything is Awesome” from The Lego Movie, creating an engaging, playful vibe throughout the game.

Unfortunately, level design often relies on overly predictable patterns. Most segments feature linear exploration with treasure chests containing Studs (essentially Lego currency) or limited-use rare gadgets and weapons. Beyond that, players will face arena battles with machines and cultists, interspersed with straightforward platforming sections that usually end with a chase sequence involving a Tallneck. Special Cauldron stages add slightly more challenging puzzles, requiring the use of shock weapons to manipulate objects or unlock doors. While each level is visually distinct, the formula becomes repetitive after just a few hours.

Beyond platforming and combat, there’s little else to fill your time. No puzzles or hidden secrets incentivize thorough exploration—a disappointment for fans accustomed to the depth of other Lego games. For instance, red bricks here merely unlock costumes and customization items rather than cheats like Stud multipliers or retro music modifiers. While this serves a different purpose, it’s hard not to compare and feel like something’s missing.

Customization: The Game’s Shining Gem

Customization is where Lego Horizon Adventures truly shines and became one of my favorite aspects of the game. Players can collect over 100 gold and red bricks, which unlock new costumes and allow for creative transformations of the hub world, Mother’s Heart. While some bricks are awarded for completing levels, most are tied to community board challenges that encourage experimentation. Tasks might include dressing as a Ninjago character before using elemental attacks on enemies or building fishing gear or dog toys to add unique interactions to the town. You can even radically alter Mother’s Heart’s appearance—adding hot dog stands, placing dragons on rooftops, or transforming villagers into ice cream cones.

Beyond aesthetic customization, two simple but effective skill trees add depth. The general tree provides team-wide bonuses, like extra XP, improved healing, or extended status effects for frozen, shocked, or burning enemies. Meanwhile, character-specific trees offer upgrades like increased health, weapon damage, and other unique perks. Skills are unlocked by leveling up through combat, which itself feels satisfying, particularly when using Aloy’s Focus to target specific machine parts. For example, removing a Broadhead’s horns can cause it to damage itself when colliding with environmental objects.

Unlike most Lego games, where dying merely costs Studs, Lego Horizon Adventures sends you back to the last checkpoint—often at the start of an area. I’m torn on whether this system is an improvement: while it leaves more currency for customization, it also requires retracing steps to rebuild objects or re-loot chests. On the bright side, progress toward challenges and XP remains intact, making death more of a minor inconvenience than a significant setback.

Difficulty and Randomization: A Mixed Bag

Lego Horizon Adventures offers five difficulty levels, giving players flexibility. On the easiest setting, enemies deal negligible damage, while on the hardest, machines like Corruptors and Thunderjaws can drain five hearts or more with a single blow—sometimes taking you down in one or two hits. I typically gravitate toward the toughest settings, but the lack of reliable dodge mechanics here makes combat unnecessarily frustrating. Occasionally, you’ll gain access to Rush Boots, which allow for short bursts of speed, but this only partially addresses the problem. It also highlights another issue: the randomness of item drops.

In Horizon Zero Dawn, equipping elemental weapons made tough battles more manageable. While Lego Horizon Adventures carries this idea over with limited-use gadgets and weapons, their availability is mostly luck-based. Sometimes you’ll find homing weapons or gravity bombs that pull enemies together before exploding. Other times, you’ll be left without essential tools. While the chaos can be thrilling, it would have been nice to have more control, especially since some challenges require specific weapon types.

Thankfully, there are ways to improve your odds. For instance, breaking a Shell-Walker’s cargo guarantees an item drop—though what you’ll receive is still uncertain. Additionally, merchants appear midway through levels, offering random items for purchase. Skill tree upgrades can also help, including one that grants a random rare weapon or gadget at the start of every level. These options alleviate the randomness somewhat but don’t fully eliminate the frustration. Rare weapons are undeniably fun to use, but having the right tool for the job makes a significant difference, particularly when multiple enemies swarm you.

Should You Build a Lego Horizon?

Lego Horizon Adventures brings the world of Horizon Zero Dawn to life with a playful Lego twist. While the story is simplified, it successfully captures the essence of key moments and characters that made the original game a fan favorite. Combat is engaging and varied, with difficulty options catering to players of all skill levels.

The randomness of gadgets and weapons is a double-edged sword—exciting for those who enjoy improvisation, frustrating for those who prefer a structured approach. Still, the “use what you have” philosophy aligns well with Horizon’s universe, even if it occasionally tests your patience.

Customization stands out as the game’s most enjoyable feature, offering countless ways to personalize characters and transform Mother’s Heart. The visuals are stunning, reimagining Horizon’s elements in Lego form with undeniable charm. Meanwhile, the soundtrack blends familiar themes with fresh modern beats, enhancing the overall experience.

However, repetitive level design, predictable mechanics, and a lack of additional content hold the game back. While the campaign is well-crafted and entertaining, it leaves players wanting more—like a Lego set missing a few key pieces to fully complete the picture.

The PS5 game code was provided by Sony PlayStation Hungary.

-Gergely Herpai „BadSector”-

Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Developer: Studio Gobo
Style: LEGO action-adventure
Release: November 14, 2024.