While rumors of LEGO Horizon Adventures had been swirling the week before Summer Game Fest, we never imagined we’d see the Nintendo Switch logo at the end of its hilarious reveal at the live show. PC, sure, but Aloy on Nintendo? This made us rub our eyes in wonder, as aside from the MLB: The Show series (which before 2021 was a successful exclusive for Sony’s consoles) this is the first time we’ve seen one of its most popular IPs. big to make the step towards a rival console, although in a LESS more family friendly form.
While Sony’s invitation to demo the new Horizon game down in their basement booth at Summer Game Fest 2024 initially set off fight-or-flight alarms in our Nintendo fan noggins, we survived the ordeal unscathed and walked away with a positive outlook of this new Lego build. While this writer personally hasn’t had much experience with the Horizon games, we didn’t feel left out, and we’re actually a lot more curious to dive into its world than before. So that sounds like “mission accomplished,” right? It’s also worth noting that we got our hands on the PS5 version at the event, which had no issues running the game, but we’re extremely keen to see it running on Switch, hopefully soon.
We’re aware that the Horizon games deal with some pretty serious subjects, but one thing that was immediately clear in our roughly 30-minute demo was just how much fun this brick-built world is trying to have. The story follows the events of the first game, Horizon Zero Dawn, and sees Aloy embark on a quest to learn more about her origins while trying to survive in this post-apocalyptic, robotic world overrun by predators. But since this is a Lego game, fun is at the forefront of every moment. Aloy and her friends are constantly making jokes at their own expense and making tons of fun about their alternate world endeavors coming up with who knows. These gags, surprisingly, were also not shared with us uneducated youngsters.
During our demo, we noticed that most (if not all) of the dialogue featured voice acting, and quite a few of the original cast members reprise their roles as well. We’re told that Ashly Burch was specifically sought out to see if she would fit this quirky new description of Aloy and, from our perspective, she absolutely does. Her bubbly personality coupled with her quick delivery fits like a glove, and we’re excited to see her return to a role as quirky as her character from her original web series, Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin’?
PlayStation darlings Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West are both third-person action RPGs and are often compared to Nintendo’s Zelda: Breath of the Wild. However, Lego Horizon Adventures is more like the original Lego Star Wars games on the GameCube. Played from a dynamic, top-down perspective, you’ll go through chapters with two-player co-op, online or offline, that you can drop in and out of. As you’d expect from a Lego game, there’s also a huge cast of characters and 100s of silly costumes to dress them up in.
We breezed through two of the game’s early levels, which saw us popping cultists and mecha dinos in the face with Aloy’s bow and arrow and Varl’s spear, even finding temporary fire upgrades for said weapons here and there. We also had the chance to try out some pretty hilarious special weapons that you’ll be able to find periodically throughout the game. In one instance, we found a brick splitter, which we fully expected would allow us to carefully chip away at our enemies brick by brick, but instead, it swings shockingly like an open baseball bat, unleash a massive area of effect attack.
Remember that hot dog, Tim Robinson looking guy from the reveal trailer? He actually appears in the game as an Assist Trophy-style summonable character that temporarily throws explosive vibrations at your enemies. Between the humorous dialogue and wild, wild combat, Lego Horizon looks to be a fun-focused game for families and kids who might be interested in getting their foot in the door of the Horizon world. Speaking of being kid-friendly, the difficulty actually caught us off guard at times, quickly dispelling our worries that this would be an oversimplified walk in the park.
The world itself looks lush and meticulously crafted with layers upon layers of accurate Lego bricks. It looks exactly like someone built a Lego-like Horizon “stage” in real life. It’s easy to find beauty in the desolation and decay of empty streets. Even a simple stop light made up of round red, yellow and green Lego nails brings a little smile to our face. We can only hope that the development teams had fun recreating a scene or two from the game with actual Legos.
While playing the demo, we were told that the Switch version of the game is being built in-house between Studio Gobo and Guerrilla Games, and they’re aiming for parity between the alternate console versions aside from the graphical differences. However, we wouldn’t be surprised if the PlayStation 5 version gets some first-party PlayStation character DLC or something of that nature. But who knows! God of War’s Kratos and Uncharted’s Nathan Drake are playable in Fortnite, and they also made the jump to the corresponding Switch version.
It’s probably a pipe dream to think of seeing a special Link or Zelda costume coming to the Switch version, but now that Legend of Zelda has its own official Lego set, maybe that’s not such a crazy thought. It’s also pretty funny to think about PlayStation studios having Nintendo Switch development kits in their buildings. Honestly, though, we find it an exciting prospect and one that Guerrilla has told us they’re excited about internally as well.
While Lego Horizon Adventures doesn’t appear to be doing anything outwardly new for the industry, it’s a curious project that we’re pleased to see crafted with so much care for long-time Horizon fans and newcomers alike. The holiday 2024 launch window gives us plenty of time to catch the original series on our non-Nintendo device, but even if we don’t get the chance, we’ll be just as excited to give it our time when it hits Switch later in the year.
Are you ready to build a foundation with Aloy on Switch? Tell us in the comments below!