Lego Horizon Adventures Review

ign.com:

It took me a while to figure Lego Horizon Adventures out. It’s the action game equivalent of watching the movie version of a book you like: It hits the major points, takes some liberties with characters and events, and then wraps everything up with a shiny bow in an abridged length. And like so many Hollywood adaptations, it handles the source material well without ever hitting the same heights. After spending 21 hours reaching 100% completion, I enjoyed nearly everything about its beautiful world and rich customization options, but predictable level design, and a lack of things to do beyond the modest yet well-paced campaign made it feel like I was building a Lego set while missing a page or two from the instruction manual.

Lego Horizon Adventures is a playful retelling of 2017’s Horizon Zero Dawn in the body of a typical Lego co-op action game. While it may not go into the depths of that story when it comes to the world or Aloy's origins, the broad strokes paint an entertainingly familiar picture for existing fans that’s still simple enough for newcomers to enjoy as well.

The 12-hour campaign took me across recognizable regions like the foliage-filled forest of the Sacred Lands, the frigid Snowchant Mountains, and the scorching hot Sunfall Desert. Each mission is filled with swaths of machines and cultists to overcome, chests filled with Studs (basically Lego money) to collect, objects to build or break, and plenty of charming character moments to keep the journey enjoyable. Those moments are often brief, but plenty of them had me chuckling from start to finish.

Throughout Aloy's Journey, she's joined by an eclectic cast of playable allies: Rost, her mentor and father figure; Varl, a young Nora hunter looking to prove himself; Teersa, the village elder who's never short on quips; and Erend, a lovable brute with a big hammer. It’s great that original voice actors Ashly Burch, John Hopkins, John Macmillan, and nearly everyone else you encounter are back to reprise