After weeks of web rumours, Sony’s uncommon new sport was lastly made official at Summer season Recreation Fest 2024: LEGO Horizon Adventures. Constructed brick-by-brick by essential Horizon developer Guerilla in collaboration with Studio Gobo, it appears to be precisely what you’d count on from a LEGO tie-in: vivid, charming, goofy, and stuffed with issues to smash and studs to gather. That’s been a recipe for fulfillment a number of instances over for LEGO, however this time round I’m not so certain. Who precisely is LEGO Horizon Adventures for?
This isn’t LEGO’s first foray into the Horizon universe. The Danish toy firm’s incredible Tallneck package, primarily based on Horizon’s giraffe-like strolling towers, is an nearly 14-inch tall behemoth fabricated from 1,222 items. If the brick depend didn’t give it away, the really useful age for this mannequin is eighteen+. Within the bodily world, LEGO Horizon has been geared toward adults as a result of it’s adults who play the online game collection. However one take a look at LEGO Horizon Adventures and it’s clear this isn’t anyplace near the kind of expertise we’ve had with the 2 mainline Horizon video games thus far. For current followers who’re already chomping on the brick for a brand new sport, this seemingly isn’t what they had been hoping for.
Whereas I didn’t count on LEGO Horizon Adventures to easily be a full-fat Horizon sport with a LEGO aesthetic, I’m stunned that the trailer reveals little or no of what I’d take into account to be the collection’ core DNA. Horizon is all about tactically tearing aside robotic dinosaurs and animals. Thunderjaw wrecking your day? Blast off its missile launchers. Battling a Snapmaw? Snipe its freeze sac. Every machine is constructed of parts that may be damaged and shattered, an thought that will absolutely translate fantastically into snapping and scattering Lego items. And but the trailer means that fight in LEGO Horizon Adventures will probably be much like prior LEGO video games of the Star Wars and Marvel varieties – give one thing an excellent, easy boop on the pinnacle they usually’ll break aside. I’m undecided how satisfying that is going to be for long-term followers.
And so the reply is apparent, isn’t it? LEGO Horizon Adventures is for kids. This can be a PlayStation Studios sport being launched for Nintendo Swap, afterall. However I’m undecided it’s that straightforward. LEGO video games have been so profitable with youngsters as a result of they’ve traditionally tailored licences that youngsters already love. As a pre-teen in the course of the prequel period of Star Wars I liked the tie-in LEGO kits, and so the following LEGO Star Wars video video games had been a no brainer. However Horizon isn’t already beloved by youngsters in its unique or LEGO type. And whereas my six-year-old nephew is as dinosaur obsessed as any child his age, I don’t assume an armour-plated t-rex goes to be a assured magnet. He’d go wild for a brand new LEGO Jurassic World sport, although, not least as a result of there’s already age-appropriate LEGO kits he can play with.
So who’s LEGO Horizon Adventures for? I believe it’s for gamer households. It’s for fogeys who spend dozens and dozens of hours taking part in Horizon on PS5 after they’ve put their youngsters to mattress, and who now need to introduce that world to their little kids. The substances are all there: as detailed by the PlayStation Blog, LEGO Horizon Adventures is a light-hearted retelling of Aloy’s unique story, playable fully in co-op. It’s a manner for an older gamer to share one thing they love with a child who’s not fairly prepared for one thing as intense and sophisticated because the full-scale Horizon video games.
That’s what I think about the boardroom pitch was, anyway. And whereas I hope that LEGO Horizon Adventures finds its place, I believe that place goes to be a a lot narrower area of interest than could be excellent for Sony. For the mum or dad or older sibling within the co-op pairing, I’m wondering if LEGO Horizon Adventures will be capable of translate all of the issues they love concerning the unique video games. Will the fight – the beating coronary heart of Horizon – be ok? Will turning the complicated Aloy, with all her doubts and troubles and inner-fight, right into a cartoon character be satisfying? And for the kid with the opposite controller, will this vivid new world of machines, scorching canines, and (presumably) a message of environmental safety show alluring sufficient to drag them away from extra established characters and the likes of Roblox? I worry that the candy spot for each gamers will probably be slim.
Traditionally, the LEGO pipeline has taken motion pictures households love, turned them into bodily LEGO kits they will construct collectively, after which reimagined these kits as worlds that may be explored by video video games. LEGO Horizon Adventures disrupts that pipeline by being a household sport impressed by a LEGO package for adults that was tailored from a online game for extra superior gamers. And so whereas I actually do hope it’s a co-op delight, I can’t assist however marvel if LEGO Horizon Adventures is constructed on shaky foundations.
Matt Purslow is IGN’s Senior Options Editor.