LEGO Horizon Adventures Review
What is it? A child-friendly adaptation of Horizon: Zero Dawn using the Lego formula
Expect to pay: £59.99/$59.99
Developer: Guerrilla, Studio Gobo
Publisher: PlayStation Publishing LLC
Reviewed on: Ryzen 7 7700X, RTX 4080, 64GB RAM
Steam Deck: Verified
Multiplayer? Offline and online co-op
Link: Official site
I’m not really sure what Sony or Guerilla saw in the crossover potential of Lego Horizon Adventures. Lego and PlayStation's post-apocalyptic dino-hunting series don’t seem opposing, exactly, but before sitting down to play it I didn’t see any multiplicative Big Brand power in combining them either—especially when compared to Lego Harry Potter or Star Wars games.
Now that I’ve finished playing it, I see even less reason to justify Lego Horizon Adventures' conception. I honestly don’t know why this game exists, and frankly I’m not even sure the people behind it do either.
Lego Horizon Adventures is a very loose adaptation of the plot of 2017's Horizon Zero Dawn (emphasis on loose). The story tackles most of hunter Aloy’s journey, including her battle with cult leader villain Helis and her attempt to understand cryptic tales of the «old world». A lot of the nuance of Zero Dawn’s story gets lost in the sauce here. Aloy’s outcast status within her tribe, a relatable and meaningful struggle for acceptance that I feel would have fit well in this family-friendly retelling, is a throwaway joke. Perhaps this should have been my first warning sign, as Lego Horizon Adventures would continue to flee from depth at every opportunity past this point.
A lot of the jokes didn’t land for me, but I'll cut it some slack for failing to make a 30-year-old man laugh. The writing, though, never ventures beyond the tired construction you've seen countless times in Dreamworks animated films. Haters of the «they’re right behind me, aren’t they?» style of Marvel-esque humour are in for a rough time. I think even its target audience will grow tired of its lazy writing by the time of the
