While rumors of LEGO Horizon Adventures were swirling in the week leading up to Summer Game Fest, we never would have imagined we’d see the Nintendo Switch logo appear at the end of its hilarious reveal at the live show. PC for sure, but Aloy included Nintendo? This made us wipe our eyes in amazement, as with the exception of the MLB: The Show series (which before 2021 was a successful exclusive to Sony’s own game boxes), this is the first time we’ve seen one of our biggest IP addresses to make the jump to a competing console, albeit in a lightly a more family-friendly form.
While Sony’s invitation to demo the new Horizon game at their basement booth at Summer Game Fest 2024 initially set off the fight-or-flight alarm in us Nintendo fans, we survived the ordeal unscathed and left with a positive outlook on this new build of Lego. Although this author doesn’t personally have much experience with Horizon games, we didn’t feel out of the loop and are indeed much more curious to dive into his world than before. So that sounds like mission accomplished, right? It’s also worth mentioning that we got our hands on the PS5 version at this event, which had no issues launching the game, but we’re incredibly 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 apparent in our roughly 30-minute demo was just how much fun this brick-built world is trying to have with it. The story follows the events of the first game, Horizon Zero Dawn, and sees Aloy embark on a mission to learn more about her origins while trying to survive in this post-apocalyptic world ridden by robotic raptors. But since this is a Lego game, fun is at the fore at every moment. Aloy and her companions are constantly cracking jokes at each other’s expense and making tons of fun nods to their alternate world ventures that will appeal to those in the know. These gaffes surprisingly didn’t sit well with us uneducated newbies either.
During our demo, we noticed that most (if not all) of the dialogue featured voice acting, and quite a few members of the original cast also reprized their roles. We’re told that Ashley Burch was specifically sought out to see if she would fit into this strange new portrayal of Aloy and, from our perspective, she absolutely does. Her bubbly personality paired with her quick delivery fit like a glove, and we’re excited to see her back in a role as wacky as her character from her original web series, Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin’?
PlayStation favorites Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West are third-person action RPGs and are often compared to Nintendo’s own Zelda: Breath of the Wild. However, Lego Horizon Adventures is most reminiscent of the original Lego Star Wars games on the GameCube. Played from a dynamic top-down perspective, you’ll jump through chapters with two-player co-op play, online or offline, where you can drop in and out. As you’d expect from a Lego game, there’s also a large cast of characters and 100 silly costumes to dress them up in.
We skipped through two of the game’s early levels, which saw us punch cultists and mech dinosaurs 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 fun special weapons that you’ll be able to find periodically throughout the game. In one instance, we found the Brick Separator, which we fully expected to allow us to carefully tear apart our enemies brick by brick, but instead it shockingly swings like a blunt baseball bat, unleashing a huge area of attack.
Remember that hotdog, Tim Robinson, who looks like a friend from the reveal trailer? He actually appears in the game as an Assist Trophy-style summonable character that temporarily throws explosive sparkles at your enemies. Between the humorous dialogue and the wild, over-the-top combat, Lego Horizon looks to be a fun-focused game for families and kids who might be interested in stepping into the world of Horizon. Speaking of being kid-friendly, the difficulty actually caught us off guard at times, quickly dispelling our worries that this would be an overly simplistic walk in the park.
The world itself looks lush and is meticulously crafted with layers upon layers of accurate Lego bricks. It looks just like someone built a Horizon “stage” in actual Lego form. It’s easy to find the beauty in the wasteland and the decay of the empty streets. Even a simple traffic light made up of round red, yellow and green Lego pins puts a little smile on our face. We can only hope that the development teams had fun recreating a scene or two from the game with real Lego.
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 DLC for first-person PlayStation characters or something. But who knows! God of War’s Kratos and Uncharted’s Nathan Drake are playable in Fortnite, and they’ve also made the jump to the respective Switch edition.
It’s probably a wild dream to see a special Link or Zelda costume coming to the Switch version, but now that The Legend of Zelda has its own official Lego set, maybe it’s not such a crazy thought. It’s also pretty funny to think that PlayStation studios have Nintendo Switch development kits in their buildings. Honestly, though, we find it an exciting prospect, and Guerrilla told us they’re excited internally, too.
While Lego Horizon Adventures doesn’t appear to be doing anything outwardly new to the industry, it’s a curious project that we’re pleased to see has been created with so much thought in mind for long-time Horizon fans and newcomers alike. The 2024 holiday launch window gives us plenty of time to catch up on the original series on our non-Nintendo hardware, but even if we don’t get the chance, we’ll still be just as excited to give this our time when it hits the Switch more late in the year.
Ready to build a base with Aloy on Switch? Let us know in the comments below!
