I’ve always had a soft spot for the Lego games, since they manage to stay lighthearted with slapstick comedy, a lively mix of block-based set pieces, and those charmingly breakable locations. Go ahead and try to find someone who doesn’t enjoy knocking down a carefully built pile of bricks that’s been arranged as a cannon, a tree, or something in-between—just to watch it all crumble into a flood of collectible studs. Honestly, I doubt you’ll succeed.
Still, the real question is whether Lego’s upbeat tone can keep shining when it borrows from weightier, more “grown-up” material like Horizon Zero Dawn. After all, the Horizon games were created with a more mature audience in mind right from the start—the PEGI 16 rating alone is a world apart from the U and PG levels tied to Star Wars and Indiana Jones, for instance, which helped the Lego releases build their reputation. Horizon also carries heavier undertones like exclusion and isolation, and you can’t ignore the smaller narrative beat about humanity’s collapse. In other words, it’s fair to say Horizon Zero Dawn isn’t exactly the video game equivalent of a cozy bedtime tale you read to your kids under a blanket while sipping cocoa.
That said, despite the two franchises seeming mismatched in plenty of ways, Guerrilla Games and Studio Gobo have managed to bring them together surprisingly well, which is something I noticed during last week’s hour-long hands-on preview of Lego Horizon Adventures.
The upcoming PlayStation-published release will mark a notable turn for the Horizon franchise. Lego Horizon Adventures doesn’t just arrive with a more relaxed, welcoming vibe than its cinematic inspiration—it also gives Aloy some breathing room away from her usual PlayStation spotlight. When it launches this November, she’ll debut on Nintendo Switch, along with PC and PS5, all at the same time.
And honestly, it’s a welcome change to see Aloy leaning into her brighter side, which the Lego setting naturally makes possible. The Lego version of Aloy is a bit of a goofball—she throws out playful jokes and side comments, even about things like sandwiches. For the first time, she gets to slow down and simply be a guardian and hero, and I’ve been told that Aloy’s voice actress, Ashly Burch, enjoyed that creative angle during development too. She returns to voice Aloy in her new blocky form.
So how exactly does Lego Horizon Adventures pull this off? Since it’s a Lego title, the heart of Horizon’s combat naturally shifts toward the kid-friendly feel those blocky adaptations are known for. But it also sprinkles in goofy, laugh-inducing twists that make the experience distinctly its own. For instance, while Aloy still faces cultists and a range of animal-like machines with her trusty bow, she can now make use of some very unexpected—yet undeniably Lego—attacks to help her get out of sticky situations.
In the opening part I played, Aloy could set down a hot dog stand (yes, really) right in the middle of the fight. At first, it might not sound like a practical defense, but believe me, it does the job. The stand owner periodically fires hot dogs into the battle, and they explode on impact—giving a brand-new meaning to the phrase “banger.” And when I was trying to take down a group of Grazers determined to slam into me for good, those explosive projectiles were incredibly useful.
At the same time, campfires and electric pits placed around the area can be used to add extra punch to your arrows, too—and they’re far more entertaining than Horizon’s original crafting mechanics. Arrows that were freshly lit didn’t just help you deal more damage. They also let you clear away brush to uncover additional hidden treasure chests stuffed with more studs.
Just keep in mind that you’ll need to handle fire carefully, so take my mistakes as a warning. At one point, I managed to scorch away all the tall grass that was meant to provide cover—and I also accidentally set myself on fire when, for reasons I still can’t quite explain, I decided it would be a good idea to sneak into the now-flaming shrubs. Needless to say, Aloy took a big hit, and I had to dump our leading lady into a pool of water to put out the flames. Sorry, Aloy!
Another thing I was especially glad to see during my short time with Lego Horizon Adventures was the variety of difficulty options. Many earlier Lego games typically lean into a one-size-fits-all approach, often without a truly meaningful fail condition. Even if you run out of hearts and studs, your character can still jump back into the chaos around them—whether that’s running from Jurassic Park dinosaurs or battling a Kraken in Pirates of the Caribbean. But that isn’t always how things work in Lego Horizon Adventures.
I decided to play the late portion of my preview on the title’s hardest difficulty. In this setting, Horizon’s healing berries—those heart-restoring items—aren’t as easy to access, and the fights feel noticeably more demanding, though
…never to a degree that it felt unfair to younger players, letting them still have fun with it. What I did value most about this tougher variant, though, was that if Aloy and her current co-op partner…
did take one blow too many, they’d be met with what amounts to a game-over screen, pushing up the tension so the moment feels more dangerous, yet still avoiding anything that’s overly punishing.
Here’s what I mean. Once my hearts hit zero, I’d shift into a small, ghostlike form that I couldn’t control. Then my co-op partner could revive me, but they had to do it while also trying to steer clear of the machines’ attacks. This feels closer to today’s co-op design, where teamwork matters and saving your partner is central. After being brought back, my little ghost returned to Aloy again, but she didn’t come back with a full set of hearts. Instead, she had to make do with only part of her usual health, and the ghost wouldn’t return the next time my hearts dropped to zero. Two mistakes, and it was over. When my co-op partner was also caught by the relentless machines, we had to restart the encounter from the most recent checkpoint — and jump right back into the fight.
This setup offers a welcome amount of challenge for adult players who might be joining Lego Horizon Adventures with their children, but don’t want to coast through a game with no meaningful threats. If these modes end up feeling too intense, you can still lower the difficulty. After all, this is still a Lego title, and I never felt boxed into a single settings level with that “you made your bed, now sleep in it” attitude.
True to classic Lego fashion, Horizon Adventures also streamlines the story pacing, so it doesn’t dwell too long on the original’s gore and violence. As mentioned earlier, Zero Dawn earns its mature rating thanks to scenes such as when Aloy gets her throat cut soon after the game begins by the ruthless Shadow Carja Helis. He’s still present here, but his debut has been adjusted. Rather than kicking off with a massacre during the Proving Ceremony like in Zero Dawn, Horizon Adventures introduces him first as a hologram — one who assumes he’s running into a reception issue (“I’m not on mute, am I?” he asks Aloy, which immediately calls to mind all those awkward Zoom moments).
His intentions remain nasty, and he’s clearly part of the villain lineup. Still, Horizon Adventures communicates that in the way it does best, leaning into the series’ signature “Lego villains are a bit ridiculous” humor to make him come across in a playful, comedic light. At one point, he accidentally sets his own hand alight, then starts sprinting around in an overly dramatic fashion before getting into a silly slap fight with Rost — the father-figure character for Aloy.
Instead of wiping out members of the Nora tribe with a barrage of arrows and flames like in Zero Dawn, he simply kidnaps a number of Mother’s Heart residents and keeps them locked away in cages. I agree — that’s not exactly kind — but it still feels like a more family-friendly take on the events from Zero Dawn, and as a parent of a nine- and 11-year-old, I genuinely appreciate the choice.
Meanwhile, several familiar faces from Zero Dawn’s cast return here as well, translated into nicely crafted brick form. Characters like Teb show up in Horizon Adventures in a stylish tailor role, while Karst — the tradesman from Zero Dawn — is also present as a Lego “handyman.” Each one chats with Aloy in their own way, which keeps the tone light and adds to the cheerful vibe of this new brick-built world.
As for the brick universe itself, at least based on what I’ve seen so far, it looks like there aren’t any mini kits to collect, unlike in Lego Star Wars and similar games (possibly because Horizon Adventures is built by a different studio). Even so, there’s still plenty to enjoy while wandering around, especially in Horizon Adventure’s central hub at Mother’s Heart. That includes spots where you can change Aloy’s clothes, personalize her home, and do small “side-quest” activities like building a table for a feast.
Overall, if you’ve enjoyed earlier Lego games from Traveller’s Tales, I don’t doubt you’ll feel the same with Horizon Adventures too, regardless of whether you’ve played Zero Dawn beforehand. Sure, at its core it’s still a “kids game,” but as someone who’s a Horizon fan, I feel a lot more at ease introducing my children to Aloy’s world… and yes, it now also includes hot dogs.