Is Lego Horizon Adventures fun co-op chaos or simplistic gameplay?

LEGO Horizon Adventures is best enjoyed in co-op mode. (Image: The LEGO Group)

14 Dec 2024

It does a lot to make you love it thanks to its exuberant spirit and silliness, but PFangirl’s gamers found co-op LEGO Horizon Adventures lacking in gameplay satisfaction.

Released on 14 November 2024 for PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and PC, LEGO Horizon Adventures is a surprising new entry in the LEGO video game series. Surprising because you’ll probably find yourself asking who exactly it’s for, given that this action adventure is an upbeat, family friendly take on the universe of Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3_6wPzCPBw

Guerrilla Games’ Horizon franchise isn’t graphic or gratuitous, but it certainly leans to the mature in its story and themes.

Here, though, Guerrilla, in partnership with Studio Gobo, have gone a more light-hearted route, completely excising grim topics like environmental collapse, and putting a chipper spin on characters like machine-hunting protagonist Aloy, and companions Varl and Erend – with the assistance of returning original voice actors Ashly Burch, John Macmillan and John Hopkins.

The LEGO and Horizon collaboration isn’t unprecedented, as a Tallneck LEGO set was released in 2022. However, it still feels like a strange pivot when previous licensed LEGO video games have included the likes of Star Wars, Harry Potter, and DC Super Heroes, which are more kid-orientated by default.

LEGO Horizon Adventures is cute and stuffed full of enjoyable silliness. Image: The LEGO Group

Regardless of the behind-the-scenes motivations, with the school holidays and festive season break on the horizon, you might be in the market for a game that is suitable for players of all ages, and, even better, can be enjoyed together. Apart from sporting the trusted LEGO name, LEGO Horizon Adventures will probably be on gamers’ radars due to the fact that it can be played solo, or in two-player co-op mode, either together on the couch or online (with the latter requiring a PS Plus subscription).

Is the game worth its premium R1,299 price tag? Will LEGO Horizon Adventures do the main series justice? Will we get the same sense of awe and power?

After the release of the aforementioned Tallneck LEGO set, which included the Aloy Minifig, a little Watcher, and a mini diorama, it was easy to imagine the world of Horizon Zero Dawn in this setting. And it’s a treat to see everything, particularly the machines, so intricately reimagined in LEGO form.

While not short on challenge if you pick the right difficulty level, nonetheless there’s no escaping how samey LEGO Horizon Adventures feels. (Image: The LEGO Group)

LEGO Horizon Adventures is underwhelming on gameplay satisfaction. (Image: The LEGO Group)

Unfortunately, apart from admiring the literal world-building, there isn’t much to do outside the four-story chapters. Once you finish the campaign, it’s grindy as you’re limited to Apex machine hunts as the sole way to earn experience and tick off challenges with their gold brick rewards.

The story is very light on details, glossing over most of the lore of Horizon and condensing Aloy’s story into a few fetch quests. While it’s true to the core of the original with some amusing changes, anyone who hasn’t played Horizon Zero Dawn still won’t have answers to some of the big plot questions.

LEGO Horizon Adventures is far more fun in co-op combat than as a single-player adventure. Each character brings their own strengths to a battle situation and, though it can get chaotic, it’s genuinely enjoyable as, true to the original game, you identify and remove key parts of each machine to defeat them.

That said, because the gameplay is not split screen, if you stray too far away from your companion, the second player is teleported back to the main. This makes for frustrating moments when you’re about to get the health you desperately need and suddenly find yourself on the other side of the battlefield, slap-bang in the middle of an explosion. And, unless you’re mixing up your playable choices for each mission chapter, it’s hard to level up characters as the ones you don’t take lag behind in XP very quickly.

LEGO Horizon Adventures is best enjoyed in co-op mode. (Image: The LEGO Group)

LEGO Horizon Adventures comes across as pretty stripped down even for a LEGO game.

Compare it to The Skywalker Saga, for example, and you realise the environments aren’t as smashable and you never get to do anything with the LEGO buildings you assemble. The occasional bit of puzzle platforming makes it obvious how little gameplay diversity there is in the rest of the title.

If you’re picking one family-friendly game for the holidays, you’re probably better off investing in Game of the Year contender Astro Bot. DM

This article was first published on PFangirl.

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