I go into Lego Horizon Adventures cocky—seeking to test the mettle of my Aloy. Difficulty setting? That’s new; I crank it right up to 5 out of 5 (“Hero”). Worse yet, I also take this co-opportunity to play with my son for this hands on.
How would backup be a hardship enhancer and not a problem halver? In the 27-odd Lego games we’ve clocked together, he’s double-jumped at the chance to shoot, saber, or sneakily screen-scroll me to death. Repeatedly. His favourite thing in life is handing me my own Lego pants-part.
His favourite thing in life is handing me my own Lego pants-part.
With zero surprise, it dawns on me quickly that our demo will be yet another trial by friendly-fire. To my actual, genuine shock: the combat system being employed against me is, far and away, the deepest Lego fisticlaws either of us have seen.
Players can’t damage one another with basic bow shots, per se, but he finds new ways to hassle me whenever I put my DualSense down to take notes. It’s like I’m playing Horizon forbidden rest.
Something else I soon realise: LHA is built different—mostly but not completely for the better. We’ve a new dev (Studio Gobo) with a new design philosophy, so best le’ go of your preconceptions right now. I’ll dive into the specific culture shocks in a sec, but I should detail some asking prices first. You can, of course, skip that window shop to read my continued thoughts.
Table of Contents
Lego Horizon Adventures pricesPreorder bonusesHands On
Cheapest Lego Horizon Adventures Prices
Amazon – $99 PS5 | $89 Switch
Big W – $99 PS5
JB Hi-Fi – $99 PS5 | $89 Switch
MightyApe – $99 PS5 | $109 Switch
Harvey Norman – $108 PS5 | $98 Switch
Digital:
PlayStation Store – $109.95 Standard | $124.95 Deluxe
Nintendo Store – $109.95 Standard | $124.95 Deluxe
Epic Games – $109.95 Standard | $124.95 Deluxe
Steam – $109.95 Standard | $124.95 Deluxe
Lego Horizon Adventures Preorder Bonuses
Preorders of either edition will net you the Shield-Weaver outfit.
What about fancy editions?
There’s a Standard or Digital Deluxe Edition. Here’s what is in the latter:
The game itselfRoller Coaster CustomisationBanuk Armor outfitShadow Stalwart outfitRatchet outfitRivet outfitSackboy outfit“Alloy” Aloy outfit
Hands on continued
Let me place a big green flat-piece and set the stage for you. In Lego Horizon Adventures, we’re roughly resampling the events of Zero Dawn, though it’s a lighthearted and often fourth-wall-breaking retell. Take, for example, the slapstick-tastic intro where an uncommonly gifted baby Aloy uses her adoptive father, Rost, for target practice. One sympathises.
But while that familiar “IP piss-take” tone of the TT Games feels alive and well here, it’s immediately clear that LHA’s framework of exploration and combat builds off in surprising new directions. Most notably, in the removal of a basic melee punch and double jumps. Also, a downtick in destructible world elements filled with more studs than a Magic Mike cosplay convention.
That last choice strikes us as odd, given the level designers aren’t cheating. Absolutely every square centi-cube of this world is a brick.
My boy and I quickly readjust to bow attacks instead of biffing. Taps of Square loose out low damage/distance shafts, which only peck at the lifebars of our minifig foes. A four-second max draw will earn you bigger pain and pushback, but they’re still not powerful enough to go the full screen distance. Much to my son’s annoyance, these shots only disrupt me momentarily instead of nixing a heartpiece.
He finds new ways to hammer me, of course. Triangle allows you to pick things up in the world, be it stunned enemies, unsuspecting buddies, or explosive barrels. With the former two, you can effectively run to a cliff and hoik your captive off. With barrels, we discover that if I’m holding one and he lands a disruptive shot, the barrel will indeed drop to my feet, explode, and deal hellacious damage. We discover that fact…repeatedly.
Though I miss punching scenery and enemy minifig faces terribly, I quickly find a new love in the stealth and Focus mechanics. Those of you who’ve never played a Horizon game should know that Aloy is a cunning huntress who can leverage old-world AR tech and the odd bit of grass lurking to prevail against sizable dinobots and superior odds.
Leverage old-world AR tech and the odd bit of grass lurking to prevail against sizable dinobots.
Likewise, her machine enemies have location-based damage with many destructible components. Taking a moment to ping out an L1 x-ray scan of the battlefield lets you snap-target onto enemy doodads that deal extra damage, inflict status effects, or deny the use of certain attacks. All of that has been translated here in a clever, approachable fashion.
The battles in LHA are tactical and bloody terrific whenever your co-op partner momentarily puts aside their need to kill you. These brouhahas are primarily wave-based arenas that are sprinkled with strategic opportunities for a shrewd hunter. You might draw a bull charge into an element that stuns the beast. Or perhaps you’ll manoeuvre your foe so that a campfire sits between you, at which point any arrows that pass through will set them alight.
That latter mechanic shows up again in other forms, most notably in the electrical fields in Cauldrons, which tack on lighting-based damage. No great shock there. So to speak.
Better yet, as our demo progresses, we earn limited ammo special weapons to spice things up further. On the previous topic of immolation, you can earn Blast Boots, which enable the use of a fiery double jump that scorches anything underneath them (including path-blocking thorns). I also loved being able to R1 switch to SpreadShot arrows, which ping out five shafts a pull.
I should also mention a summonable Hot Dog stand that, once built, randomly lobs out explosive death to everybody (including you if you’re not careful). And also the fact that when the second player shifts from Rost to Varl, that he seems to earn sub-weapons of his very own (like a boomerang spear throw). Pretty cool stuff.
Difficulty-wise, this ain’t no Dark Souls, but we find our claws fuller than usual, with a definite need to communicate for survival. This isn’t like the strafe-tastic, third-person shooter stylings of Skywalker Saga—Aloy’s need to root in place to attack means a divebombing Longhorn can headbutt a damage-greedy player into the dirt.
This ain’t no Dark Souls, but we find our claws fuller than usual.
Worse, stumbling into the searchlight of a pack of raptor-esque Watchers means you have to contend with their homing energy balls, which track you for ages. Scrappers, meanwhile, harass us with arc wave attacks that must be deftly hurdled (without a basic double-jump). And brigades of minifig cultists can literally drop down from the sky at any time to overwhelm you with sheer numbers and spinning spear attacks.
Worser than worse, when you’re hurt, replacement hearts don’t just pop out of killed foes for an insta-guzzle heal. LHA uses a system of Health Bushes, which are strategically planted about the level. Sometimes they’re present in the arena showdowns. Oftentimes not, and you’ll have to try reviving a downed pal via a lengthy fixing animation.
In short, our veteran abilities are tested, and we love it. Though, admittedly, some of the challenge stems from how screen real estate is handled—LHA doesn’t use a dynamic split when players wander out of each other’s orbit. Instead, the second player gets a small warning icon plus a timer of sorts, and then they’re harmlessly rubber banded to P1’s side.
That sounds annoying on paper, but in practice it’s kind of awesome for quicker exploration. These levels feature a number of branching, albeit dead-end, paths that lead to extra riches or buildable tick-off elements. Many times, my son would scale these roads not taken, achieve their purpose, and then I’d screen-sling him back to my position. Weirdly satisfying stuff.
I’d screen-sling him back to my position. Weirdly satisfying stuff.
Looking back at my notes, I have a decent list of other cool details—you know, little extras that betray a superior level of care from a dev. Audiowise, I dug the impressive degree of contextual commentary. Wander into an incidental body of water, and a line about bath time will bubble up organically. Stepping off a low cliff to earn yourself faceplant (but no fall damage) will make Aloy wryly thank gravity for doing its job.
Basically, this mostly standard platforming is elevated by being uncommonly quip-smart. I also dig that auto-mantling up ledges is baked in as creature comfort.
This finer attention to detail extends to the visuals, too. Not only are these Lego-ified countrysides sumptuous—particularly when the sun hits those babbling stop-motion animated brooks just right—they also have incidental flairs. Plowing through snow causes flurries of white “one blocks” in your wake. You can expect similar blue block splashes from creeks. I also love that the ruined old world scenery is basically dilapidated Lego City sets one could probably buy off the shelf at one time or another.
Oh, speaking of, we spent way too much time in a generously stocked skins shop brimming with legacy minifigs. My zoomer son was stoked with the Ninjago and City themed threads he grew up with. My crusty self gravitated to the Robin Hood and Lion Knight kits from the time before the space shuttle exploded.
We also lose time to gussying up key buildings in the village of Mother’s Heart—I switch out the base of one hut, add an outdoor banquet table, and we reno a roof with the decapitated head of a Tallneck. It’s a little dark, looking back.
We reno a roof with the decapitated head of a Tallneck. It’s a little dark…
Last but not least, Aloy and Rost (or whoever your secondary character is) can be perked up aplenty. I splash out on a three-tier XP booster, but I also see ones that add elemental damage to certain combat techniques or protection against specific incoming abuse. There’s a decent amount of room to grow here.
Which, ultimately, feels like my overall take on my time with Lego Horizon Adventures. As far as first showings go, what’s here seems as solid-built as a Duplo brick outhouse. Guerilla Games and Studio Gobo are doing a great job balancing familiar TT-esque elements and expected HZD fan service while also snapping in worthy new ideas of their own.
Being that we only saw 60 minutes of this—barely the tip of an override spear—a lot of elements remain shrouded in mystery. Will we get rideable mounts? How closely will the narrative stick to Zero Dawn and will it inch into the events of its expansion (The Frozen Wilds) or the sequel (Forbidden West) at all?
Either way, my young tormentor and I both concur: Guerilla and Gobo are cooking something special in this Cauldron. We can’t wait to co-op drop in again come November 14. Adam Mathew is our Aussie deals wrangler. He plays practically everything, often on YouTube.
