Lego Horizon Adventures lets Aloy find her sense of humour, with the help of some exploding hot dogs

I’ve
always
found
the
Lego
games
rather
endearing,
with
their
slapstick
humour,
often
eclectic
array
of
blocky
setpieces
and
those
wonderfully
destructible
environments.
I
challenge
you
to
find
me
someone
who
doesn’t
delight
in
destroying
a
once
perfectly
arranged
pile
of
bricks
in
the
guise
of
a
cannon,
tree
or
anything
else
really,
just
for
the
sheer
joy
of
watching
those
objects
burst
into
a
wave
of
collectable
studs.
I
bet
you
can’t.

Question
is,
can
Lego’s
comical
playfulness
still
come
through
when
it’s
building
on
more
serious
and
‘grown-up’
source
material
like

Horizon
Zero
Dawn?
After
all,
the
Horizon
series
was
intended
for
more
mature
audiences
from
the
off
–
its
PEGI
16
age
rating
a
far
cry
from
the
U
and
PG
scenes
of
Star
Wars
and
Indiana
Jones,
for
example,
that
the
Lego
games
made
their
name
on.
There
are
also
themes
such
as
exclusion
and
isolation
tucked
into
Horizon
as
well,
and
let’s
not
forget
the
small
plot
point
that
is
the
downfall
of
humanity.
Yes,
it
is
fair
to
say
Horizon
Zero
Dawn
is
not
exactly
the
video
game
equivalent
of
a
cosy
bedtime
story
you
read
to
your
children
while
snuggled
up
under
a
blanket
drinking
cocoa.

But
despite
seemingly
being
at
odds
with
each
other
in
many
ways,
developers
Guerrilla
Games
and
Studio
Gobo
have
managed
to
marry
the
two
together
rather
well,
as
I
discovered
during
an
hour
long
hands-on
preview
of

Lego
Horizon
Adventures
last
week.

The
upcoming,
PlayStation-published
release
will
mark
quite
a
change
for
the
Horizon
series.
Not
only
is
Lego
Horizon
Adventures
arriving
with
an
easy
breezy,
friendly-to-all
approach
compared
to
its
more
cinematic
counterpart,
it’s
also
freeing
Aloy
from
her
PlayStation-first
shackles.
On
Lego
Horizon
Adventures’
release
this
November,
she
will
make
her
debut
on
the
family
favourite
Nintendo
Switch,
as
well
as
PC
and
PS5,
simultaneously.

And,
you
know
something,
it
is
really
refreshing
to
see
Aloy
embrace
her
more
joyful
side,
which
her
Lego
setting
allows
for.
Lego
Aloy
is
actually
a
bit
of
a
goofball,
making
silly
jokes
and
quips
about
things
like
sandwiches
here
and
there.
She
has
finally
been
given
the
chance
to
relax
and
revel
in
her
role
as
a
protector
and
hero
–
something
I
am
reliably
informed
that
Aloy
actress
Ashly
Burch
also
enjoyed
during
the
game’s
development,
as
she
is
once
again
reprising
her
role
to
voice
Aloy’s
new
bricky
persona.

So,
how
does
Lego
Horizon
Adventures
pull
it
off?
Well,
this
being
a
Lego
game,
the
thrust
of
Horizon’s
combat
certainly
leans
into
the
more
child-friendly
approach
these
blocky
adaptations
are
known
for,
but
it
also
has
daft
and
humourous
twists
that
make
it
feel
all
its
own.
For
example,
while
Aloy
will
still
take
on
cultists
and
a
number
of
animal-like
machines
with
her
trusty
bow,
she
can
now
also
make
the
most
of
some
rather
more
unexpected,
but
very
Lego,
attacks
to
help
her
get
out
of
a
pickle.

During
the
opening
section
I
played,
Aloy
was
able
to
deploy
a
hot
dog
stand
(yes,
you
read
that
correctly)
in
the
middle
of
the
battlefield.
This
may
not
sound
like
a
very
good
defence
system
at
first
glance,
but
trust
me,
it
works,
as
the
stand
owner
will
periodically
launch
hot
dogs
into
the
fray,
which
then
explode
on
impact,
giving
a
whole
new
meaning
to
the
word
‘banger’.
And
let
me
tell
you,
these
volatile
projectiles
were
incredibly
useful
when
I
was
trying
to
dispatch
a
herd
of
Grazers
that
were
doing
their
utmost
to
headbutt
me
into
oblivion.

Meanwhile,
campfires
and
electrical
pits
dotted
about
were
also
on
hand
to
give
my
arrows
a
little
bit
of
extra
oomph
(and
are
a
lot
more
fun
than
Horizon’s
original
crafting
systems).
Freshly
blazing
arrows
weren’t
just
useful
for
inflicting
more
damage
upon
my
enemies,
for
instance,
as
they
could
also
be
used
for
clearing
shrubbery
to
reveal
extra
hidden
treasure
chests
full
of
additional
studs.

You
do
have
to
be
careful
with
the
fire,
though,
so
please
learn
from
my
mistakes.
At
one
point,
I
managed
to
not
only
burn
away
all
the
long
grass
which
was
meant
to
serve
as
a
useful
cover
–
I
also
set

myself
on
fire
when
I
thought
(for
some
foolish
reason
even
I
don’t
fully
understand)
it
would
be
a
good
idea
to
try
and
sneak
into
the
now
ablaze
shrubbery.
Needless
to
say,
Aloy
took
some
damage
here,
and
I
had
to
plunge
our
leading
lady
into
a
pool
of
water
to
extinguish
her.
Sorry
about
that,
Aloy!

Another
thing
I
particularly
enjoyed
during
my
short
time
with
Lego
Horizon
Adventures
was
its
different
difficulty
options.
While
previous
Lego
games
have
tended
to
take
a
one-size-fits-all
approach,
with
no
real
fail
state
(even
when
you
lose
all
your
hearts
and
studs,
your
player
character
can
still
rejoin
whatever
chaos
was
going
on
around
them,
be
it
running
from
Jurassic
Park
dinosaurs
or
fighting
a
Kraken
in
Pirates
of
the
Caribbean),
this
is
not
always
the
case
in
Lego
Horizon
Adventures.

I
decided
to
play
the
final
section
of
my
preview
on
the
game’s
most
challenging
option.
In
this
mode,
Horizon’s
restorative,
heart-filling
berries
were
less
readily
available,
and
combat
was
noticeably
harder,
although
never
to
the
point
I
felt
it
was
beyond
reasonable
for
younger
players
to
also
have
a
good
time
with
it.
What
I
especially
appreciated
about
this
harder-than-average
mode,
though,
was
that
if
Aloy
and
her
co-op
wingman
of
the
moment

did
take
one
too
many
blows,
they
would
be
met
with
what
is
essentially
a
game
over
screen,
upping
the
stakes
to
bring
just
a
little
bit
of
peril
to
the
mix,
but
without
being
overly
cruel
in
the
process.

Allow
me
to
explain
further.
When
my
hearts
dropped
to
zero,
I
turned
into
a
little
ghostly
figure
which
I
could
not
move.
My
co-op
partner
then
had
the
opportunity
to
revive
me,
although
this
of
course
had
to
be
done
while
they,
too,
were
also
trying
to
spare
themselves
from
the
wrath
of
the
machines
–
bringing
it
more
in
line
with
co-op
games
of
today
where
teamwork
and
bailing
out
your
partner
is
essential.
Once
revived,
my
little
ghost
was
replaced
with
Aloy
once
more,
but
not
an
Aloy
with
a
full
stash
of
hearts.
Rather,
she
had
to
get
by
with
just
a
smidgen
of
her
full
health
potential,
and
when
my
hearts
dropped
down
to
zero
again,
that
little
ghost
did
not
come
back.
Two
strikes,
and
I
was
out.
When
my
co-op
partner
also
succumbed
to
the
raging
machines,
we
were
made
to
restart
the
scene
from
the
last
checkpoint
–
and
therefore
begin
the
battle
–
once
again.

This
adds
a
welcome
layer
of
challenge
for
grown
up
players,
who
are
perhaps
going
to
dive
into
Lego
Horizon
Adventures
with
their
children,
but
don’t
want
to
just
coast
through
a
video
game
where
there
are
no
real
threats.
The
option
is
still
there
to
dial
the
difficulty
back
down,
however,
should
these
modes
prove
to
be
too
much.
This
is
still
a
Lego
game,
after
all,
and
I
never
once
felt
locked
into
one
difficulty
mode
with
a
‘you
made
your
bed
and
now
you
must
lie
in
it’
kind
of
attitude.

In
similar
Lego
fashion,
Horizon
Adventures
also
simplifies
the
game’s
plot
so
it
doesn’t
dwell
too
much
on
the
original’s
gore
and
violence.
As
mentioned
earlier,
Zero
Dawn
has
that
mature
age
rating
because
of
scenes
where,
for
example,
Aloy
gets
her
throat
sliced
early
on
by
the
cruel
Shadow
Carja
Helis.
He’s
still
around
in
Lego
Horizon
Adventures,
but
his
introduction
is
a
tad
different.
Rather
than
heading
up
a
massacre
during
the
Proving
Ceremony
like
we
see
in
Zero
Dawn,
Horizon
Adventures
has
him
firsting
popping
up
as
a
hologram
who
thinks
he
is
having
some
kind
of
reception
problem
(“I’m
not
on
mute,
am
I?”
he
asks
Aloy,
reminding
me
of
many
a
Zoom
call).

His
intentions
still
aren’t
good,
and
he
is
clearly
one
of
the
baddies.
But
Horizon
Adventures
conveys
this
in
the
way
it
knows
best,
using
the
series’
classic
‘Lego
villains
are
all
kind
of
buffoons’
sense
of
humour
to
play
him
for
laughs.
At
one
point,
he
accidentally
set
his
own
hand
on
fire
and
proceeded
to
run
about
in
an
over
the
top
fashion
before
engaging
in
a
childish
slap
fight
with
Aloy’s
father
figure,
Rost.

Then,
rather
than
slaughtering
members
of
the
Nora
tribe
in
a
hail
of
arrows
and
fire
like
in
Zero
Dawn,
he
simply
kidnapped
some
of
Mother’s
Heart’s
residents
and
popped
them
in
cages.
I
agree,
that
still
isn’t
exactly
nice,
but
it’s
definitely
a
more
family-friendly
version
of
Zero
Dawn’s
events,
and
as
a
mother
to
a
nine
and
11
year
old,
I
am
glad
of
this
approach.

Meanwhile,
several
members
from
the
rest
of
Zero
Dawn’s
cast
also
return
in
nicely
detailed
brick
form
here.
Characters
such
as
Teb
serve
as
a
fashion-forward
tailor
in
Horizon
Adventures,
while
Zero
Dawn’s
tradesman
Karst
also
pops
up
as
a
Lego
‘handyman’.
Each
character
engages
in
a
certain
amount
of
banter
with
Aloy,
again
adding
further
levity
to
this
freshly-brick
world.

Speaking
of
the
brick
world,
from
what
I
have
seen
so
far,
there
are,
alas,
no
mini
kits
available
to
collect,
such
as
those
in
Lego
Star
Wars
and
the
like
(perhaps
due
to
the
fact
Horizon
Adventures
is
coming
from
a
different
developer).
There
was
still
plenty
of
fun
to
be
had
while
out
and
about,
and
within
Horizon
Adventure’s
main
hub
of
Mother’s
Heart,
though.
This
included
places
to
change
up
Aloy’s
outfits,
customise
her
house
and
little
‘side-quest’
like
extras
such
as
building
a
table
for
a
feast.

All
in
all,
if
you
enjoyed
previous
Lego
games
made
by
Traveller’s
Tales,
I
have
no
doubt
you’ll
also
get
a
kick
out
of
Horizon
Adventures,
regardless
of
if
you
have
played
Zero
Dawn
before
or
not.
Yes,
it’s
still
a
‘kids
game’
at
its
heart,
but
as
a
Horizon
fan,
it’s
one
I
can
feel
much
better
about
when
it
comes
to
introducing
my
own
children
to
Aloy’s
world…
which
now
also
includes
hot
dogs.