Lego Horizon Adventures Review: A charming, if simple, family adventure

It’s hardly surprising just how much Horizon content is being produced by PlayStation right now, in the wake of Hermen Hulst’s rise to the top of Sony.

While its monster sales numbers likely have far more to do with it, Hulst, who oversaw original Horizon developer Guerrilla’s move from blood and bullets with Killzone to robotic dinosaurs, is also now the head of PlayStation Studios, and oversees a roster that includes Horizon Forbidden West, Horizon: Call of the Mountain, Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered, an untitled Horizon multiplayer project, a Horizon TV project, a much hinted at third entry in the Horizon series… and now this, Lego Horizon Adventures.

Developed by Guerrilla and UK-based Studio Gobo, Adventures is a retelling of the events of the first Horizon game via the medium of Lego. Most of the original game’s cast returns for an isometric action game that, while largely very simple, is a funny, charming family game in an era largely devoid of them.

Ditching the open-world approach, Lego Horizon Adventures takes on a hub-and-spoke level design, with Aloy working to rebuild Mother’s Heart, the game’s home base.

She does this by collecting gold bricks, which can open new levels and new areas of Mother’s Heart. Mother’s Heart itself is where new outfits can be unlocked, stats can be upgraded, and the player can swap between the game’s four playable characters.

Lego Horizon Adventures doesn’t take the classic TT-style Lego game approach. It’s not a collect-a-thon, and you’re not swapping characters to complete puzzles or interact with elements that only one character class can deal with.

Instead, the game is much more focused on combat. Later levels do become somewhat repetitive as a result, but the game itself isn’t massively long, and younger players – who the game certainly feels geared toward – likely won’t mind.

Later, some Apex levels open up that give players the chance to face off against some tough bosses. These are the game’s only real challenge, but they’re a welcome addition to change up the pace.

The combat centers around Aloy’s bow, with other types of bows and various gadgets being picked up as limited-use items specific to the levels you pick them up in.

The combat is fine, and there’s some depth adapted from the main series regarding targeting the weak points of the enemy creatures, but it never feels challenging.

This is one of the areas the game is quickly willing to get weird with, as one of the first items you’re able to deploy against your enemies is to quickly build a hot dog cart, and have the vendor launch explosive wieners in every direction. Hot dog-based humor is a popular refrain in Lego Horizon Adventures.

Perhaps the game’s greatest strength is how well all of the creatures from the main series have been adapted in Lego form. While a real-life Lego set of the Tallneck from Horizon was released years ago, Lego Horizon Adventures adapts virtually all of the creatures, including the staggering Thunderjaw, into Lego form.

All of the pieces used to create not only the characters, but every element of the game, are real Lego. The only deviation is that some of the pieces used in the game have never been released in those colors, but the pieces themself are legitimate.

The Lego pieces themselves are highly detailed. Close-ups of characters reveal plastic imperfections which are a staple of real Lego. There are blemishes where printed elements of costumes haven’t been applied properly. You can see lines where the plastic molds were separated. It gives the whole game a feeling similar to that of The Lego Movie, right down to the faux stop-motion animation.

The game is visually detailed, while still maintaining the visual language of Lego. When grass goes on fire, it’s little Lego flame pieces that dance around in the brush. This, paired with the game’s impressive lighting engine, makes the whole game look extremely realistic.

Even the water, which in some Lego games is represented with a realistic water texture, is instead replaced with an animation effect based on several different shades of blue, recreating stop-motion waves. Smoke effects are white, circle tiles to represent the clouds of smoke.

It’s all very charming and well thought out – we’re sure a dedicated fan could build Lego Horizon Adventures brick by brick, with enough money and time.

The game’s fidelity mode features impressive shadows that bounce off the shiny Lego brick surfaces. The lack of a dedicated PS5 Pro mode at the time of writing is a disappointment, however, especially given the game’s proximity to the console’s launch.

The game’s writing is also a high point. While the original series has moments of humor, Lego Horizon Adventures is genuinely funny, with great cross-generational humor.

The slapstick of the Lego games is in full effect here, and even though the characters are fully voice-acted (which is a sticking point for some Lego fans) every member of the cast gives full effort towards a legitimately entertaining performance. The game’s story is a loose, less violent retelling of the original with plenty of cheeky winks and nods to fans who’ve been with the series since 2017.

Lego Horizon Adventures is an enjoyable family game with witty writing and great visuals. The gameplay won’t scratch the itch of players who were introduced to Aloy via the main series, but for younger gamers, this is one of the vanishingly few family games available on modern consoles that’s of legitimately high quality.

Witty writing and a cheeky sense of humor make the game feel like Gurrella letting its hair down before heading off on the journey of Horizon 3. Some repetitive gameplay aside, it’s an enjoyable palette cleanser in the middle of 2024’s long list of epic experiences.