Well, this certainly came out of nowhere.
It’s the bizarre mashup we’re getting this Holiday season but didn’t know we wanted: Lego Horizon Adventures, a cheerfully casual brick-based ode to PlayStation’s popular 2017 robot hunting adventure, Horizon Zero Dawn. It’s ‘based on the events’ of the first Horizon game, but shining with that TT Games signature humor and irreverence. Or is it? Well, not really, but kind of.
Looking back, Lego has long maintained a healthy, prolific connection with video games, from the super early stuff like Mindscape’s 1995 Windows-based Lego Island and the underlooked Lego Racers on the PS1 and N64 in 1999, to all the more recent IP-derived TT Games titles like Lego Jurassic World, Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones. Hold up: Is the word Lego starting to look weird to anyone else? Just me? Okay.
On a related side note, it’s crazy seeing how far TT Games has come since the original PlayStation days, with its full-of-potential but ultimately lackluster 3D platformer Rascal. The lead character of which, by the way, was designed by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. There’s an entire interesting story behind why the game ultimately shipped with tank controls instead of inputs closer to that of, say, Super Mario 64. But that will have to wait for another day and another article.
Beyond Rascal, though, we could dig even deeper through Traveler’s Tales’ history to Sonic R on the Sega Saturn and the 16-bit Toy Story on the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo. Nowadays, TT Games is essentially an exclusive Lego software powerhouse, and have become considerably successful doing so. Well done, guys.
Anyway. We’ve ridden that tangent long enough. Back to Lego Horizon Adventures, a project I had no hope for or prediction of, because while there have been countless Lego video games launched at this point, not many have been about video games specifically. Lots of movie-related IP, surely, but not much in terms of known gaming properties. Apparently, Lego Fortnite was released in late 2023, though I’m just now learning about it.
That aside, we’ve mostly gotten Lego games tied to popular film franchises—in recent years, anyway. You’ve also got standalone stuff like the toys-to-life Lego Dimensions and open world racer Lego 2K Drive (great fun), or bespoke titles built around particular lines of Lego playsets, like Lego Ninjago and Lego Legends of Chima. See, there’s that uncanny strangeness again. Leeeeeeeeegoooooo. I don’t think it’s real anymore. What even is reality?
In a way, it makes perfect sense that we’re seeing a Lego game based on Horizon Zero Dawn, because the relationship between Lego and PlayStation was established a while ago in 2022 with that sweet Tallneck model. So in that regard, it was only a hop, skip and a jump to go all in and create a legitimate Lego Horizon game.
It’s being co-developed by Aloy creators Guerrilla and Studio Gobo (helped out on Hogwarts Legacy, Redfall) though IGN says TT Games proper won’t be involved with Lego Horizon Adventures. Womp womp. This has me a tad worried, as the DNA for these digital brick games absolutely comes from the Traveler’s Tales team, but maybe with new blood involved, we’ll see a fresh take on the Lego video game formula. Which, to be quite honest, has grown a bit stale in modern days.
The above trailer does come across as containing the general playful spirit of the TT releases, so that could be enough to win over long-time fans. It’s not surprising that Sony would want one of its own teams helming something so important to their console’s brand.
Still, this news has my mind racing with more Lego PlayStation possibilities. The Last of Us. God of War. The Legend of Dragoon. Vib Ribbon. Oh man, Jet Moto! Hover plastic bikes! I want all of these in playable brick form, thank you very much. Until they come to fruition (fat chance), I’ll simply have to settle for Lego Horizon Adventures, which can’t come soon enough.
Le-go. Lhey-gho. Lay; gow. I need to lie down.
