// Lego Horizon Adventures
Not long ago, I had an epiphany. “Hot dog,” I exclaimed, “the library has video games!”
Not just crummy old sports games and dated Wii shovelware either. They get new stuff.
The catch: most of them have a huge hold list. So you’ll be waiting a while for your games. I took up the strategy of adding everything under the sun to my list, and when eventually one shows up, it’s a nice surprise.
Fast-forward a few months and what little game show up at my local library branch but Lego Horizon Adventures. Now, I was among the majority of people who said, “huh,” when they announced this game. Seemed like an odd thing to produce.
But for free? Well, I’ll play anything for free.
I picked it up, brought it home, and put it on a shelf by my front door. There it sat untouched for about a week and a half. That is, until one fated Tuesday when I fell ill. Ya boy 2R had a cold.
What better to do with my free day? Probably a lot of things, but I played all the way through Lego Horizon Adventures instead.
// Point 1: A Game for Babies
This game is for babies. There’s just no other way to say it.
I don’t mean to imply it’s not a good game, but it’s very easy and incredibly dumbed-down from the original Horizon: Zero Dawn.
The gameplay is a fairly by-the-book isometric action game. You take control of Aloy or of one of her three friends. They each have a different weapon – either a bow, spear, hammer, or bombs. I stuck with Aloy for the majority of my time.
You go through the game level by level, killing other humans and machines. Zipping through the levels killing dudes with explosive barrels and blasting parts of giant robots is fun, if simplistic.
The writing is exceptionally toned-down for children, and they added a narrator. The narrator tries very hard to be funny. He is usually not. If you’ve seen one of the trailers with the narrator present, you can expect a lot of that. I tapped out at the joke about cat videos on the internet.
In all honesty, I skipped through most of the dialogue and narration. I know this story, and I just wanted a fun little action game for a few hours.
// Point 2: It’s Pretty, Though!
Like most Lego games, the polish in Lego Horizon Adventures is top-notch. The lighting and textures shine in the world they built. It’s a vibrant world with bright days, glowy sunsets, and sleek caves.
The art direction is also very fun, since everything is made of Lego.
It’s slightly different from the usual Lego games, however. In fact, I think it actually looks a little more polished. It also has a different feel to it. It’s less click-ey and chunky than the usual Lego games.
This is because it’s not developed by the usual Lego Dudes over at TT Games. Lego Horizon Adventures is a joint effort between Guerilla Games and Studio Gobo.
// Point 3: Short game
I played through this entire thing in 4 hours. I was definitely speeding through it as quickly as I could, but it’s still a bite-sized game.
There’s a decent amount of customization you can engage with. This includes rebuilding your home base and decorating it, as well as dressing up Aloy with a bazillion different outfits.
Once you’ve completed an area, you can return and compete against more difficult combat challenges. There are a few side objectives you can go back to replay as well.
How Long To Beat has the completionist time at 15 hours, but I think anyone with some gaming experience could do it faster than that.
There’s also a bunch of Ninjago content in there, like characters and outfits. I’m not really sure why. I don’t know anything about Ninjago. But it’s there!
// Point 4: Go To the Library
This here is a full price video game. $79.99 Canadian. I do not recommend buying it at full price. Even half price might be a bit steep for how short and simple it is.
But if you can get it for free at your local library? I say go for it. It’s good for a fun few hours.
You should also check out what other games are on offer. While you’re there, maybe read a book or something. You’re not allergic to books, are you? What are you, stupid?
While you’re at it, maybe make a donation. Libraries are consistently underfunded relative to all the services they provide to a community.
Are you a child? You’d probably have a grand time with this game. This is the kind of thing I could have seen little-me playing over and over again. If you have a kid, they would probably enjoy this quite a bit!
