So I picked up Lego Horizon Adventures yesterday because of course I did – it is Lego + Horizon!

I love the Horizon games. I have a bit more of a “love hate” feeling with the Lego games, but I always get drawn in because Lego. I think I always think I will like the game more than I actually do. I have a very fond memory of playing the first Lego Marvel Superheroes game. I still miss Marvel Heroes because there is just something soothing? I don’t know if that’s the word but I like running around places like Avengers Tower, or the X-Mansion. For Star Wars I like that I can be Hera or Sabine from Rebels because I don’t know, I feel closer to the media I love that way? It’s hard to explain.

Anyway I probably didn’t need this preamble ^^ but I just wanted to explain how I was both looking forward to the game but also expecting to be disappointed. All Lego games I have before I have dipped in and out of over long periods of time because I just feel so meh after the initial “shiny new thing” has worn off.

So what about Lego Horizon Adventures?

Exciting point #1 – EVERYTHING IS MADE OF LEGO!!

Seriously this is a big deal. The backgrounds are Lego (not true for the other games). I’m pausing to analyse what parts they have used and making notes on construction because I can do that with my Lego bricks!!

Exciting point #2 – NO BLOWING EVERYTHING UP!

The studs bar is something that annoys me in the other Lego games. Mindlessly trying to methodically destroy everything in sight it is tedious and it breaks immersion. I do it because a ridiculous number of studs are needed for the unlocks and also it’s necessary for the achievements, but ugh not a fan. Well this isn’t a thing in Lego Horizon!! You can hit a few barrels if you like for extra studs but it’s hardly a necessary.

Exciting point #3 – COMBAT IS ACTUALLY MEANINGFUL!

And we come to the point that made me write this post in the first place. Lego games have always been a huge mess on the screen, jump about, smash buttons, sometimes die (sometimes die a lot) but you instantly reform and just pick your studs back up. Death has no meaning. There is very little strategy. I honestly don’t know what the buttons do half the time. It’s button mash until it ends. Quite frankly it’s a boring diversion from the real game which is running around exploring, doing the puzzles and finding the collectibles.

This is so not the case in Lego Horizon. For a start if you die then you respawn at the previous checkpoint and have to restart the fight again. You have to aim. You have to not stand in bad. You get extra abilities and need to use them sensibly. I wiped half a dozen times on a fight and got annoyed and took it down from the highest difficulty (hero) to machine hunter (second highest) and I still wiped a couple of times after that.

So far there doesn’t seem to be the puzzles, or too much exploring to find stuff, but I don’t mind that much because the combat is a breath of fresh air. I don’t miss having to look up guides and go through step by step changing out my character a dozen times to find all the stuff because if I do it myself then I will invariably miss something and then have to replay the level again and again and that gets irritating.

Anyway I’m not saying this game is perfect. It is a little repetitive in places but I am saying it’s the best Lego game I have played. I can actually see myself finishing this one. Now excuse me I need to go take some screenshots and see if I can work out the parts to build a Sawtooth.