A “Now Playing” article is a quick snapshot and thoughts on a game that I am currently playing. In this case, I am looking at LEGO Horizon Adventures. This is a 3rd person action-adventure game. The characters, environments, and other things are depicted as being made of LEGOs. Some things around you can be destroyed, while in other cases things can be built from a pile of LEGO bricks. There is the option of couch co-op playing (or online), although I have not tried that.

Quick Stats

Time Played: 10 hours
Amount Completed: Currently on chapter 4 out of 5
Platform: PS5 with DualSense controller
Graphics Mode: Performance
Plan to Complete: Yes

Things I Like

• It is not the LEGO game that I would expect. This is a positive in that LEGO-themed games continue to innovate, but has some drawbacks as noted later. I was frankly not expecting how this game operated given my experience with other LEGO games–LEGO City: Undercover and LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga being the ones with which I have spent the most time.
• The graphics are really nice. I tend to focus more on gameplay and story than graphics, but also appreciate good art direction. It looks like a LEGO game, but with a shiny (and reflective) fresh coat of paint on things. I initially used “fidelity” mode, but camera movement was choppy enough to be distracting on my 4k display. I switched to “performance” mode a few hours in and camera movement became a lot smoother without losing any major quality of the visuals at least to my eye.
• The writing is great in its humor and references. All the LEGO games that I have played have funny dialog and situations, and this is no different in that regard. There were multiple times where I literally chuckled out loud at something a character said or did.
• Along with the writing, the voice action is great in my view. The original game on which this one is based has a much different tone. But from what I understand, many of the same voice actors were used in both games. I would call the original game’s tone more “somber” and this one more “chirpy”, and the actors were able to capture those themes.

Things I Find Not So Hot

• While I would not call any LEGO game that I have played as “deep” with its role-playing game (RPG) elements, this one seemed lacking a little depth in that regard. That may be due to the fact that this game is based on a full-on Action / Adventure RPG that I played for over 60 hours, (and still currently never completed). Perhaps that has skewed my expectations. On the other hand, I have probably spent at least two times as many hours playing LEGO games, which may also impact my expectations. That said, I am not too mad at the simple progression system. At a gut-feeling level, I would like a little more control of what things I can upgrade using experience points and character level. However, when I think about it, the level of control that this game provides over upgrades is comparable to other LEGO games. I would have just liked a little more control of what items, abilities, and weapons I took with me, (after acquiring them anyway), into a level.
• While you may play as different characters each with different skills and attacks, the game as a whole seems one-dimensional. I like to be able to pick my weapon-of-choice, upgrade it, and then have the option to focus on a different weapon (and likely playstyle). From what I can tell, your weapons and items are random when playing through a level.
• It is not the LEGO game that I would expect. Past LEGO games had fairly short stories that would not take too long to complete if focused on that goal. But then they also had a fair amount of replayability turning a 20ish hour game to a 50+ one if you want to find and unlock everything.

Conclusion

I have played a number of LEGO-themed games and this one is quite different in its play style compared to most others. While most of the previous LEGO games I have played leaned heavily into exploration and some light puzzles, this one is more focused on combat. Unfortunately, that combat–so far at least–is fairly repetitive. There are collectables, but it does not take a lot of replay and searching to find them comparatively. While I am enjoying this game and plan to finish it, I would have also preferred to have some of the elements to which I am more accustomed to finding in a LEGO game. I do appreciate the increase to the depth of combat in this game, but wish a little more variety in the enemies and fighting environments.