Lego
Horizon
Adventures
is
a
weird
game.
The
Horizon
games
are
already
slightly
odd
because
despite
selling
millions
upon
millions
of
copies,
they
don’t
get
talked
about
much
in
the
gaming
space
and
even
have
a
fairly
strong
contingent
of
people
who
dislike
them.
But
given
its
commercial
success,
it’s
hardly
surprising
that
Sony
is
heavily
pushing
Horizon,
with
multiple
upcoming
projects
all
based
around
the
IP.
And
that
brings
us
to
Lego
Horizon
Adventures,
a
cutesy
retelling/remake
of
the
first
game
in
Lego
form,
which
is…well,
a
tad
odd
considering
the
first
game
just
got
remastered
last
month.
So,
who
exactly
is
Lego
Horizon
Adventures
for?

The
target
audience
for
this
game
is
hard
to
figure
out.
On
paper,
it
seems
like
the
perfect
customer
for
Lego
Horizon
is
a
hardcore
Horizon
fan
who
wants
to
play
what
is
essentially
a
remake
that
also
happens
to
be
Lego-themed,
and
is
willing
to
pay
full
triple-A
prices
to
do
it.
That’s
a
strange
venn
diagram.
Ultimately,
it
seems
like
the
target
market
is
actually
adults
who
really
love
Horizon
and
want
to
introduce
their
children
to
it
via
a
more
light-hearted
take
on
the
subject
matter
and
split-screen
co-op.
But
that
target
market
seems
rather
small.

Price:
$60/£60
Available
On:
PlayStation,
Switch,
PC
Reviewed
On:
PC
Developed
By:
Studio
Gobo,
Guerilla
Games
Published
By:
PlayStation
Studios

So
here’s
the
gist
of
the
plot,
and
feel
free
to
skip
this
paragraph
if
you’ve
already
played
Horizon
because
the
story
is
damn-near
identical
in
setup.
You
play
as
A|oy,
an
outcast
in
a
post-apocalyptic
world
in
which
robot
animals
roam
the
land.
She
must
set
out
to
save
the
world
from
an
evil
AI,
and
in
the
process
discover
the
secrets
of
her
past.
Although
since
she
is
made
of
plastic,
I
think
it
is
safe
to
assume
her
origins
began
with
injection
moulding.
Does
that
count
as
IVF?

Ashly
Burch
returns
to
voice
Aloy
which
is
absolutely
fantastic.
I
didn’t
realise
this
at
first
because
Lego
Aloy
sounds
almost
nothing
like
her
realistic-looking
counterpart.
It
wasn’t
until
I
checked
the
IMDB
page
that
I
discovered
Ashly
had
reprised
her
role.

The
reason
for
the
difference
in
voice
is
simple:
this
Aloy
might
as
well
be
a
completely
different
character.
Over
in
the
main
series
Aloy
has
struggled
to
connect
with
audiences
because
of
her
demeanour.
She’s
an
outcast
who
has
difficulty
managing
to
connect
with
anyone,
and
for
good
reason
as
she
wasn’t
treated
well
by
the
locals
who
believed
she
could
not
have
come
from
a
human
mother.
It’s
a
compelling
idea
for
a
backstory
that
should
make
Aloy
a
sympathetic
character
but
sadly
the
battle
to
form
connections
ends
up
including
players.
She
has
little
in
the
way
of
personality
outside
of
being
a
bit
surly,
rushing
through
conversations
and
rarely
ever
smiling.
The
idea
that
she’s
socially
inept
but
trying
her
best
also
doesn’t
come
across
very
well,
and
thus
to
most
players,
she
feels
like
bit
of
a
dick,
to
be
honest.

The
problem
is
that
while
the
overarching
plot
on
the
Horizon
games
is
pretty
damn
cool,
the
charter
writing
and
dialogue
are
very
weak,
thus
the
heroine
we
should
be
rooting
for
and
feeling
empathetic
toward
winds
up
being
blander
than
unseasoned
tofu.
The
writers
have
yet
to
find
a
way
to
make
her
likeable
to
the
audience,
or
failing
that,
just
memorable
in
any
way.

Lego
Aloy
goes
in
the
complete
opposite
direction,
bubbling
with
the
bouncy
energy
that
only
being
made
of
plastic
can
imbue.
This
Aloy
seems
intent
on
making
up
for
every
time
her
twin
sister
didn’t
smile
by
smiling
all
the
time,
merrily
tackling
the
potential
end
of
the
world
with
a
cheerful
grin
and
a
can-do
attitude
that
makes
my
surly
brain
want
to
murder
her
with
a
brick.
Ashly
Burch
seems
to
be
having
a
grand
time
performing
this
way,
but
in
the
end
Lego
Aloy
faces
the
same
problem
as
her
big
sister
in
that
they
are
both
one-note
personalities,
albeit
at
very
different
extremes.

That’s
a
shame
because
while
the
main
series’
attempts
to
tackle
Aloy’s
struggles
to
fit
in
socially
are
pretty
poorly
handled,
a
Lego
game
might
have
been
a
good
place
to
tackle
those
themes.
But
in
moulding
Aloy
anew
in
Lego
form,
any
nuance
or
attempts
at
some
deeper
meaning
have
been
stripped
out
entirely,
leaving
behind
a
wholly
forgettable
story.
Family-friendly
games
and
stories
like
this
are
the
perfect
places
for
themes
of
acceptance,
learning
who
you
are
and
how
to
find
your
place
in
the
world,
but
I
guess
there’s
no
room
for
that
amongst
the
lame
jokes,
so
the
whole
“outcast”
things
gets
tossed
out
the
window
in
about
five
minutes.

Right.
Yes.
The
jokes.
Look,
I’m
a
32-year-old
dude
but
I
also
adore
cheerful
stories,
crazy
humour
and
crassness.
I
have
a
huge
soft
spot
for
animated
kids/family
movies,
too,
so
while
I’m
not
the
ideal
audience
I
still
think
I
can.
talk
about
this
kind
of
adventure
with
some
degree
of
authority.
So
trust
me
when
I
tell
you
that
Lego
Horizon
Adventures
falls
squarely
into
the
bland,
boring
and
banal
category
of
family-friendly
story-telling.
There
are
a
few
moments
that
elicited
a
smile
from
me,
but
ultimately
this
is
the
kind
of
kid’s
game
that
feels
like
it’s
speaking
down
to
kids
with
the
most
generic
jokes
and
lack
of
substance.

For
a
moment,
let’s
consider
this
game
against
The
LEGO
Movie.
It
also
featured
a
character
who
is
an
outcast,
struggling
to
fit
into
society.
That
movie
manages
to
take
its
main
character
and
deliver
a
great
story
about
finding
a
place
in
the
world
even
when
you
don’t
quite
fit
in
at
times,
all
while
delivering
joke
after
joke.
In
comparison,
Lego
Horizon
Adventures
is
like
one
of
those
weird
straight-to-DVD
Lego
movies
that
nobody
remembers.

The
rest
of
the
characters,
all
of
whom,
like
Aloy,
are
a
generally
much
happier
group
than
their
full-blown
Horizon
counterparts.
Here
though,
you
get
to
actually
play
as
Aloy’s
companions,
jumping
into
the
shoes
of

 Varl,
Teersa
and
Erend.
You
can’t
hot-swap
between
characters
like
you
do
in
other
Lego
games,
which
is
a
shame,
but
as
you
embark
on
missions
you
can
choose
who
to
go
as.
Varl
employs
a
spear
for
his
attacks,
whereas
Erend
is
the
only
melee-focused
character,
wielding
his
hammer.
Teersa
is
all
about
throwing
explosives.
Each
of
them
get
a
few
unique
weapon
upgrades
mid-mission
to,
like
Erend’s
earthquake
hammer
or
Varl’s
boomerang,
but
at
the
end
of
the
day
the
game
feels
pretty
much
the
same
no
matter
who
you
choose.

In
fact,
let’s
get
to
the
gameplay
proper
and
discuss
how
a
standard
mission
plays
out.
The
gamer’s
world
is
split
into
a
series
of
environments
ranging
from
a
jungle
to
a
desert
to
a
snowy
area.

Weirdly,
each
environment
is
actually
one
big
level
that’s
been
split
up
into
multiple
areas.
This
becomes
really
apparent
after
you
finish
the
game
and
open
up
expeditions
where
you
can
freely
explore
to
continue
levelling
up
characters.
It’s
almost
as
if
Lego
Horizon
may
have
been
more
open-world
at
one
point,
much
like
the
main
Horizon
games.
Clearly,
that’s
not
the
case
though,
because
now
the
areas
are
split
up
by
small
loading
screens.

Structurally,
it’s
a
little
annoying
that
instead
of
moving
between
environments
each
chapter
takes
place
in
the
same
chunk
of
the
world.
Heading
back
to
the
same
areas,
again
and
again,
does
not
help
alleviate
the
game’s
already
repetitive
and
simple
gameplay,
especially
as
each
area
in
the
environment
looks
almost
exactly
like
the
last,
with
the
exception
being
the
Cauldrons
or
the
occasional
Tallneck
sequence.

Most
of
the
time,
you’ll
actually
just
be
ambling
around
the
linear
levels
doing…well,
kind
of
nothing.
There’s
the
occasional
chest
to
find
off
the
beaten
path
that
rewards
you
with
Studs,
and
some
very
simple
platforming
that
involves
holding
down
the
left
stick.
Occasionally
you’ll
run
into
a
puzzle
that
typically
amounts
to
finding
an
explosive
barrel
and
tossing
it
at
something.
Considering
you
spend
the
majority
of
your
time
in
the
sections,
it’s
dissapointing
how
dull
they
are.
Past
Lego
games
always
made
exploration
fun
by
including
interesting
secrets,
weird
stuff
to
find,
cool
little
events,
lots
of
platforming
and
heaps
of
other
shenanigans.
Lego
Horizon
has
exactly
none
of
those
things,
and
thus
the
main
goal
of
the
non-combat
sections
is
to
get
through
them
as
quickly
as
possible
to
get
back
to
the
fighting.

Combat
is
where
the
game
is
best
as
it
attempts
to
capture
some
of
the
fun,
frantic
magic
of
the
main
Horizon
games.
Stealth
is
largely
pointless
and
only
there
as
a
nod
to
the
main
games,
and
fighting
the
human
cultists
is
pretty
dull.
But
battling
the
robotic
animals
is
more
entertaining,
bringing
in
the
Horizon
gameplay
loop
of
attacking
weak
spots
in
order
to
break
pieces
of
the
machines
off.
It
basically
boils
down
to
spamming
your
basic
attack
over
and
over,
but
there
are
a
few
fun
wrinkles
such
as
firing
arrows
through
hazards
to
imbue
them
with
elemental
damage.
Plus
you
can
pick
up
buffs
like
a
flame
bow
or
ice
spear
with
limited
uses,
as
well
as
extra
gadgets
to
use
such
as
the
tripcaster,
frostwave
or
jump
boots.
My
personal
favourite
is
the
deployable
hotdog
vendor
who
lobs
explosive
rockets.

Between
outings
Aloy
and
her
pals
hang
out
at
Mother’s
Heart,
a
small
hub
world
that
be
customised
over
time.
In
this
little
village
you
can
spend
Lego
Studs
to
put
together
fun
buildings
and
decorations,
while
the
community
board
hosts
a
bunch
of
challenges
to
earn
extra
Gold
Bricks
from.
These
bricks,
also
earned
by
completing
the
story
missions,
just
unlock
more
customisation
options,
such
as
a
wide
selection
of
costumes,
but
are
mostly
there
for
the
more
die-hard
players
to
chase.

Over
the
years
the
Lego
games
have
frequently
delivered
pretty
strong
visuals,
coming
closer
and
closer
to
replicating
the
real-world
little
plastic
bricks
in
digital
form.
It’s
always
kind
of
cool
to
see
franchises
brought
to
life
in
brick
form.
However,
none
of
those
past
Lego
titles
holds
a
plastic
candle
to
what
Lego
Horizon
throws
onto
the
screen.
This
is
a
seriously
gorgeous
game

I
did
find
myself
disappointed
by
how
little
the
Lego
aspect
came
into
play
though.
In
the
other
Lego
titles
you’re
constantly
building
things,
either
by
holding
a
button
or
manually
placing
blocks.
But
for
some
reason,
Lego
Horizon
barely
makes
any
use
of
its
construction
blocks.
Sure,
there’s
the
occasional
object
you
put
together
with
a
tap
of
a
button,
but
that’s
about
it.
The
rest
of
the
time,
the
fact
that
everything
is
made
of
plastic
blocks
is
completely
irrelevant.

Lego
Horizon
is
fun
in
a
safe,
basic
and
bland
kind
of
way.
The
jokes
rarely
land,
the
characters
aren’t
great
and
all
of
the
gameplay
outside
of
the
combat
is
meh.
Fighting
is
where
Lego
Horizon
Adventures
is
at
its
best,
but
that
isn’t
saying
much
as
its
fairly
mundane.

The
game
never
does
manage
to
find
its
own
identity
–
if
you
want
Horizon,
go
and
play
the
recent
Horizon
Zero
Dawn
remaster,
and
if
you
want
Lego
then
the
likes
of
Lego
Harry
Potter
or
Lego
Star
Wars
are
vastly
more
enjoyable
and
make
far
better
use
of
Lego
gimmick.

What’s
strange
to
me
is
that
Lego
Horizon
kind
of
sucks
at
being
Lego
or
Horizon.
The
Lego
aspects
are
almost
non-existent,
and
story
is
so
stripped-back
and
the
characters
so
different
that
it
barely
even
feels
like
a
Horizon
game
outside
of
shooting
robot
dinosaurs.

In
the
end,
Lego
Horizon
ends
up
being
the
worst
of
the
Horizon
games,
and
way
down
the
list
of
Lego
games.
And
thus
we
end
on
the
same
question
I
asked
at
the
start
of
the
review:
who
is
this
actually
for?