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

videogameschronicle.com:

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