Lego Horizon is an action adventure game developed by Studion Gobo. A small british studio that co developed plenty of games and has Horizon as its second game behind SYNCED. Ofcourse the Horizon series belong to Guerrila Games as they re
the one who developed the game, its sequel and the Vr version of it. So they helped Gobo studio in order to have the wanted result. The game was published by Sony for Playstation, PC and the Nintendo Switch making this the first SONY game published on the Nintendo Switch.
The game was first reveal during June's 2024 Summer Game Fest,in Sony's state of Play. Before the full reveal of the game, there had been leaks about it but without anything to prove it, it remained a myth. When Sony did reveal the game, the majority of the comments online were,
Who asked for this? In 2024, the Horizon series have been under fan critisisms for some of the decisions made by the devs. To be more specific, when the DLC for Horizon Forbiden West came out in 2023, fans were met with unexpected content which included making Aloy a lesbian which
did not settle well with a majority of fans who got tired of Sony putting LGBTQ elements unexpectedly in their games. Furthermore, negative critisisms were made about Aloy's constant monologues which to some were very annoying. Lastly, the DLC content did not help on the narrative the game tried
to tell although it did offer a nice boss fight.
Story of the Game
Lego Horizon Adventures retells the story of the original 2017 Horizon Zero Dawn. Ofcourse this is a lego game and so it tries to make the narrative more family friendly as its targeted audience is not the
teens but instead its made for the kids. For those unaware, Horizon tells the story of the heroine Aloy who lives in a post apocalyptic world where giant machine like creatures replaced the real animals. Aloy was born in mother's nest through a phenomenom that made
her be considered an outcast of the Nora tribe and thus she lives under another outcast guidance named Rost.
Through certain events Aloy becomes welcomed in Mother's Nest and is soon needed to help the Nora. The villagers find themselves in trouble and thus Aloy is there to rescue them.
Thoughts on the story
Im gonna be quite honest. The story for me is a hit or miss, leanning towards the miss part. I consider myself a fan of the Horizon series, I played both Zero Dawn and the Forbidden West and i enjoyed both
games through their pros and cons. Lego Horizon on the other hand does its on thing on retelling the story of Zero dawn with its own kid friendly spin. The story/ narrative takes away most of the serius aspects found in the former titles and replaces them with more fun and enjoyable
aspects. For example, (Minor Spoiler) in the beginning of both games Rosts dies, one of the games made us experience the pain of Aloy's loss as we said goodbye to a beloved NPC whilst the other game showed respect to the moment of the actual sacrifice and imedietly made us laugh with
Rosts deciding to continue be a part of the game by becoming the non bias narrator of our adventure. Lego Horizon made Helis a nice gag character who likes having sunbaths and likes to yell at out group of heroes. Each of the main cast got a unique personality with its its own marks,
Aloy is still very adventurous who cares about her origins, Varl is dreamming of becoming a worthy warrior who will no longer be scared, Erend is always making Donut jokes, Teersa is also adventurous and the cool parent and last but least Sylens is a DJ who loves parties. The presonality
swap is great for newcomming kids, but a miss for the people who wanted to experience a new horizon Adventure.
Gameplay
Lego Horizon is an Action adventure game that places the hero in the shoes of of Aloy and her friends. Through out the game more people will join Aloy and thus the player can choose which is the available heroes they wish to control. The heroes being Aloy, Teersa, Varl and Erend. Most of them
are quite similar. Aloy use her bow and arrows in order to take the enemies down. Varl is using his spear instead of a bow and arrow, Teersa thorws bombs and the only one being different is Erend who is using a giant hammer for close compat battles. At the start
of the game the players are placed in the hub world. In the hub world the players can interact with various objects and customize them to their liking. They can change the buildings and different monuments around it. They can even customize the type of ground placed in the village. The customizations
dont add anything of value to the gameplay but its a nice touch. After all being creative is part of what makes Lego, Lego. The hubworld expands the more the players proceed with the story. In the hubworld the players can also change the outfits of their characters and even upgrade them from
the big tree. Additionally, the players can choose to take on side quest from the Community board and venture around towards the missions area. Story mission and apex hunts are highlighted around the outskirts of the village.
The adventure starts once the hero proceeds through one of the gates. At the start of each level a small cutscene will be triggered and then the players are placed in the first small segment of the level. There the players can change their party and their controlled hero. The rest of the heroes
will be placed before entering the level, if the player interacts with anyone, they simply swap their hero to that one. Once they go through the entry point, they can no longer change character until the end of the mission. Each mission can be seperated in segments. The oppening part, the 1-2 encounter
the mid way and the last two leading to the end. Most of the action happens inbetween levels. The players have to move from one point of the level all the way to the other through some easy platforming. There re areas where the players will have to face off againts the machines that threaten to kill them.
When an area is filled with enemies it also has the iconic red tall grass that the heroes can hide and stealthy approach their enemies. The enemies are separated into two main categories, human enemies and the machines. The human enemies re weaker and they re defeated easily. The players can hit them with
their weapons and they can also lift them up and throw them off the playable area or into traps and other AoEs. The mashines on the other hand are harder to deal. The player can use the focus in order to detect the weaker parts of a machine. Those points will be highlighted yellow and hitting them can cause
critical damage. Very similar to the other games, shooting the same weak part all the time will cause it to drop. Some dropped items can even be used as weapons. The enemies will either try to hit the players directly, or by shooting projectiles towards them or last but not least using AoE attacks. The heroes cannot
dodge roll away like in the original and instead they can jumb above certain projectiles or counter fire with fire.
Special Weapons and Battle items are also available for the players to use in combat. Every hero can equip two weapons, their starting weapon with infinite ammo and a more powerfull one which can be used a certain ammount of times. The change between the two weapons happens with a quick tap of a button.
The more powerfull weapons can be weapons fused with elements. For example Aloy can have a Fire bow which sets enemies on fire dealing extra damage per second, Freeze bow which freeze anyone upon impact, Electric bow which acts similar to fire, Stack bow, which stacks arrows and shoots them multiple times and finaly a
Scatter bow which shoots enemies from all directions. All the elemental attacks are similar for everyhero with other ones acting differently such as Erend's smash hammer which causes spikes to come out upon impact. These weapons appear through out the level within chests or by killing enemies. Picking a weapon which
you have equiped gives ammo but if you pick a different type the weapon will be replaced.
Battle items are found in a very similar way and unlike the special weapons they re not character exclusive and everyone can pick them up. The players can only equip one battle item at the time. Some items specialise in movement, others in defense and others for attack. For example, items like the blast boots which
allow double jump and Rush boost which blinks the characters are more movement oriented. Items like Shield, Frost Wave, trpcaster and Decoy are focused more in defense as they stun the enemies or distract them away from the heroes. Last but least the other items such as Brick, Hot Dog Stand, Drones and bombs are used to
deal significally more damage. It goes without saying but most items can certainly be used for any purpose. For example, use the tripcaster to deal damage or use the brick to hit away projectile attacks. The world of Lego Horizon also has structures that can be used for the players benefit. For example, hitting pillars
will cause them to fall causing AoE, using freeze/electrick bombs on a freezing surface will spread the effect through water hurting both enemies and friends who re stepping on the water.The world is your battlefield. The players can eat the purple berries found around the world in order to heal themselves.
A great addition to the game was the inclusion of Local Multiplayer. When finished with the oppening intro of the game(which is less than 5 minutes) the player can share the experience with one more friend. The coop experience is done relatively well, both players share the same camera which moves back the more the
two players further the distance between them. Eventually player two will teleport to where the player one is. Both the players can interact with the environment, they can open chests, build the structures and use the key items to solve puzzles. A player playing as Varl cannot pick up any hammer weapons and can only pick his
spears. Battle items on the other hand can be picked up by anyone. The player who seen it and picked it first will have it equiped. However there are no rules that prevent both players from having the same item. Both can equip the shield and will have to rush to get the ammo first. The same goes for the berries, both the
players can eat them in order to heal and if a players picks all of them the other will remain with low HP. If a player dies, the other one can hold down a button to ressurect them sharing his HP with the other. For example, a player will 4 hearts will remain with 2 and gift the other two to the fallen ally. If both players fall in
combat, they ll load in the checkpoint before the encounter. Both players receive the same ammount of Exp and can level up seperately(which makes it easier to grind levels for the Achievement(trophy)).
Thoughts on the Gameplay
This was my first Lego game and i was honestly happy with the result. The game's platforming reminded me alot of games like Smurfs Dreams, Asterix and Obelix XXL3, Fat princess etc. The camera locks on a top down view as
the players move around the environment. The compat of the game was very impressive as it managed to convert the Horizon mechanics into a Lego game. For example, in Horizon the players have to use Aloys close and range attacks
in order to take down the weaker parts of the machines. This gimmick was brought to this game in a fantastick way. The players can use their Focus which will highlight the weakest parts. When the players hit these highlighted areas
they deal critical damage. To be 100% honest though, the game falls into a repeatetive pattern. The heroes will start at the beginning, move through the levels taking down the enemies until they reach the middle ground. Once
that is done, the players will move to the end to collect the key item. The gameplay on the hub world is simple, the players can customize both themselves and the area. As mentioned, the game is good when directed to a younger audience.
Post Game Content
Lego Horizon is not filled with much of post content but has a decent ammount of things to do. First of all, after a certain point in the story the player will have access to the Community board. In the community board, the NPCs
will post works for the heroes to do. These mission quests will specify ways in which to kill enemies(such as with freeze, electricity or by using certain weapons like shield, hot dog stand). Other missions will request a certain hero to
take down enemies or enemy parts. A more challenging task is the Apex Boss Hunts. These hunts are tough boss fights that the player will have to take down in order to unlock the Red Bricks collectables. The players can use these
missions to level up each character to the max. This will allow the players to unlock all power ups and buffs from the hub world. The hub world can also be decorated. The players can customized the hub world by changing the
building structrures and other cosmetic areas within the hub. Last but not least the players can unlock different outfits which they can use to customize their player characters. More cosmeticks means more creations.
Sound and Graphics
This comes from someone who only played this Lego game, but i believe this game looks the best. Dont get me wrong, i ve seen how other Lego games looked the Marvel, Ninjago and the Harry Potter ones i just never played them. Lego Horizon
is filled with bright colors and is filled with well designed areas throughout the game. The world of Horizon is well represented in the Lego art style in both its flora and its fauna. The enemy design is gorgeous and very well created.
It's worth mentionning that according to Gobo, everythin seen in the game can be recreated with real Lego. Both the areas and the characters can be customized in bizzarre ways. The game has quite a few NPC animations for its people and its
interactive buildings. The cutscenes of the game re fun to watch since they re filled with goofy and over the top moments. On the other hand, the animations re lacking in quantity. For example, when the heroes are out to destroy certain items the same
cutscene will be triggered multiple times and because the missions are short and back to back you cant just ignore what its being obvious. When heroes interact, the background will be blured out and the heroes of the two taking part in the conversation
will appear on both sides with little movement.
The audio department is not as memorable. The original cast of Horizon is making a return with the exception of Sylens since the voice actor Lance Reddick passed away in 2023. His role is passed down to Tim Russ, who did a good job. The vibe of
the game is quite different and thus all of the actors are overly exaggerating their roles. For example, Aloy is more active more energetic and always excited about everything, something we dont see in the normal series. On the other hand, the
rest of the game has a melody that is reminiscing of the cannon counterpart. They manage to translate those songs into a more childish and fun version of them. The weapons and the hit have their own unique sound effects. For example, a shot that
hits normally and a shot that hits critically have two different sound effects. Each weapon and each item also have different sould files triggered upon impact.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, Horizon is a good enough effort to bring the well known Horizon series into the "Legoverse". The plot of the game is close to the story found in the Zero Dawn(2017) but in a more humorous way. There are many jokes
and personality swaps that will be a hit or miss. For example, theres only a certain ammount of Donut jokes i could take from Erend. Honestly for me the plot was a miss, but the gameplay despite being repeatetive was fun. The translation of
the focus and weak parts elements were done very well and honestly quite impressive. The game offers a Coop which is always a good thing. The post game content is not much but its offers some good challenging time. The visual department is
very good, filled with vibrant colors and well designs. It doesnt affect the gameplay as its always clear whats going on through out. The audio department seems to be a "weak part" of the game. The OSTs are similar version of the original just more
fun and childish and the voice acting is good. Overall, the game knows which audience it wants to please and it does a good job at it however, for those who wanted a new Horizon experience this is not enough to sattisfy them. The completion time
is a bit grindy and feels more like a chore.
This is a video with my Honest review close to when i played the Game
