The Horizon games have quickly become one of PlayStation’s most popular franchises, so it’s no surprise to see spin-offs starring Aloy and her tribal, sci-fi pals. However, we didn’t expect Lego Horizon Adventures ($59.99), a kid-friendly action game (available on Nintendo Switch, PC, and PlayStation 5) that turns Horizon’s world into a goofy Lego toy box. This strange concoction doesn’t retain much of the Horizon formula, but it’s a fine way for you and a friend to spend a few hours blasting robot dinosaurs.

What Is Lego Horizon Adventures?

Full disclosure: We came into Lego Horizon Adventures with skepticism. Early this year, we said that turning the series into Lego blocks could only improve Horizon’s technically impressive yet artistically ugly Bluetooth Flintstones aesthetic. It's unlikely that Lego Horizon Adventures was made to convince the haters, but we were open to potentially radical changes as players who weren’t precious about the property.

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This spin-off is a remake/parody of Horizon Zero Dawn, the first game in the series. It trades the AAA, third-person perspective for a top-down, isometric look, similar to how Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon reinterpreted its series for casual players. It’s another PlayStation game that turns characters into toys, much like Astro Bot.

The story covers the same beats as the original release, and newcomers should have no problem following familiar heroic destiny tropes. With this new Lego style comes a game much more willing to poke fun at itself. It’s a self-proclaimed “post-apocalyptic dance party.” Voice actors reprise their roles, including Ashly Burch as the heroine Aloy, helping the game feel official. We just wish the adventure also covered the sequel Horizon Forbidden West. If Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga can cover nine films, this can cover two games. More content with iconic moments would’ve also pushed Lego Horizon Adventures beyond its six-hour length.

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Brick Battles

Lego Horizon Adventures is, first and foremost, a game about fighting bad guys. At first, Aloy can only shoot at human cultists with a basic bow. But the game gradually layers on more simple, entertaining additions until the combat becomes a zippy delight.

You want to attack enemy weak points, especially on the towering mechanical monstrosities. Hitting those glowing bits deals massive damage with a satisfying ping. You can also hide in tall grass and manipulate elements, like shooting a charged arrow through fire to ignite a bush. 

There are several ways to customize your playstyle. You eventually unlock four playable characters with unique attacks, like Varl, who carries a spear, and Teersa. who fights with exploding chickens. During a quest, you’ll pick up power-ups and gadgets. These items have limited ammo, but you can combine them with your base attacks. For example, you can boost Aloy’s bow with ice damage, use Blast Boots to burn foes as you leap over them, or deploy a tactical hot dog cart to distract foes. You don’t keep the loot you use in battle, but you unlock permanent upgrades when leveling up, such as increased health. 

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Lego Horizon Adventures’ best moments come from the simple combat. We appreciate how it takes inspiration from the main games and turns it into something much more arcade-style. It’s perfectly suited for you and a friend to tackle in co-op mode, either local or online. However, it lacks crossplay. Numerous accessibility options make the game as easy or difficult as you want.

Big Horizons, Small Scope

Unfortunately, the rest of the experience is disappointingly, deceptively shallow. In this way the game feels specifically made for children, not players of all ages, similar to Princess Peach: Showtime! Levels are linear; you go from room to room, clearing out enemies. Occasionally, you might jump over an obstacle or activate a switch, but there aren't particularly challenging puzzles.

Each world has a distinct environment, like the desert or snowy mountaintops, but individual levels blur together so much the game almost feels like a randomized roguelike. After you finish a level, you can replay it to hunt for stronger monsters, but that’s about it. 

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The big problem is that Lego Horizon Adventures has virtually no exploration, which feels like the most significant missed opportunity considering Horizon is an acclaimed open-world series. Along with exploration making sense for this specific series, it’s also something other Lego games have embraced. Lego Star Wars has an open galaxy. Lego 2K Drive lets you roam through open zones. We understand that Lego Horizon Adventures would never have the same vast scope as its namesake, but it could use a little of that energy.

The only other major thing you do outside fights is customize your village. There, you spend currency to unlock new outfits and structures (we erected a statue honoring the hot dog man in our village). Horizon inspires some of these cosmetics, while others come from Lego brands like Lego City and Ninjago. Your village also has quests, like completing certain levels with a specific character. Gold bricks earned from those quests open more customization options.

Lego Horizon: PlayStation 5 vs. Nintendo Switch

Lego Horizon Adventures looks and performs quite well on the Nintendo Switch, and it’s novel to see a Sony title on Nintendo’s hybrid console. Still, this is a first-party PlayStation game, so it looks really good. Sony doesn't skimp on visuals.

Rather than using Guerilla’s in-house Decima engine (the same game dev tool that helped create Death Stranding, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Horizon Forbidden West), the developers opted for Unreal Engine 5. Undoubtedly, that simplified the port process to the Nintendo Switch and helped capture the famously high-fidelity graphics.

Unlike the Nintendo Switch version, Lego Horizon on PlayStation 5 has two visual modes: Fidelity and Performance. As with most PlayStation games that offer these choices, Performance mode targets high frame rates (60fps), while Fidelity mode drops the frame rate for improved visuals (30fps).

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This makes sense when playing the larger-scale Horizon games, with their wide open spaces, more complex animations, and larger set pieces. The choice is less clear in Lego Horizon, a simple platformer. It doesn’t need to move at 60 frames per second like Astro Bot, which is why it works well on the Nintendo Switch. That said, switching back to Fidelity's lower frame rate is hard once you play in Performance.

Fidelity mode looks great, utilizing improved lighting, but the two modes have little visual difference to warrant sacrificing frame rate. Furthermore, the isometric camera doesn’t let you marvel at anything up close, so the added fidelity is somewhat lost. There’s no reason not to choose Performance, as both modes looked nearly identical on our Alienware AW3225QF 4K QD-OLED gaming monitor. The PS5 version also supports a few HDR luminance options that the Switch version lacks.

All of this helps Lego Horizon Adventures pull off what might be the most appealing and visually polished Lego game presentation to date. The world is made of colorful blocks, not just certain elements, unifying the look. Horizon’s robotic animal enemies arguably look cooler, rendered in menacing plastic. Certain animations recall stop-motion animation, too. We encountered none of the technical jank that plagued previous Lego games, only the charm.

Verdict: A New, Simplified Horizon

Lego Horizon Adventures is roughly a weekend’s worth of fun, arcade-style, co-op monster brawls. Remixing the franchise into arguably the most polished Lego release yet is also an experiment worth applauding. However, the game lacks the depth of the main series. It’s a fun time for kids, not grizzled Horizon veterans. Editors’ Choice winner Astro Bot is the stronger option if you want a toyetic take on PlayStation mascots.

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