Conceptually, Lego Voyagers is straightforward to like and respect. A sofa co-op, cozy Lego recreation centered on platforming and puzzles at a low value level? Sure, please. It even makes use of a Good friend Cross system like Break up Fiction did earlier this 12 months, persevering with the pattern of accessible co-op experiences. The easy appeal of inhabiting the lifetime of a single brick amuses me to no finish—to not point out the probabilities it opens up for cooperative play. However the actuality is considerably mundane. The puzzle design didn’t fairly reside as much as its potential and there’s some tedium concerned in a few of the fetch-and-haul design. Lego Voyagers doesn’t do something notably contemporary, but its premise continues to be worthy of reward.
Lego brick-building is about as free-form and artistic as you may get with a bodily object, but Lego Voyagers is surprisingly linear and restrictive. For one, you possibly can’t work together with each Lego piece. Okay, that’s positive. However it will be good to know precisely which items are interactable and which aren’t. For one, you possibly can’t work together with every bit—which is okay—however it will be good to know precisely which items are usable and which aren’t. There are additionally invisible partitions and out-of-bounds areas. They aren’t frequent, however they do exist. This limitation isn’t a deal-breaker, but it’s price noting that this isn’t a free-for-all Lego constructing recreation—not even shut.
“To its credit score, the autosave is frequent, updating progress nearly always relatively than by chapter.”
Now on to the recreation movement. You and your co-op companion progress by means of linear, brick-built environments stuffed with easy obstacles requiring teamwork: lengthen a bridge right here, construct a ladder there. The sport has little in the way in which of facet content material. Like Break up Fiction, there are small secrets and techniques scattered about—a stud-built swing, a few lounge chairs—however nothing substantial. There are not any secret ranges, facet minigames, or quests. Selecting between the purple brick or blue brick has no bearing on gameplay past a minor transformation for one character halfway by means of. The shortage of facet content material and character selection makes the sport low on replayability.
Though the construction feels seamless, opening the menu reveals a sequence of chapters. To its credit score, the autosave is frequent, updating progress nearly always relatively than by chapter. There are not any recreation overs or lives both: in the event you plummet off a platform, you respawn instantly. It’s a perfect pick-up-and-play expertise that doesn’t demand a lot setup or preparation.
As for co-op, the sport is strictly two-player with no single-player choice. You’ll be able to play regionally or on-line by way of the helpful Good friend Cross, which solely requires one copy of the sport. In contrast to Traveller’s Tales’ Lego titles, this one lacks adaptive split-screen, and there’s no compensation when a companion runs off-screen—the digital camera merely tries to middle between gamers.
The absence of adaptive split-screen isn’t essentially dangerous; I loved the large single-screen view as a result of it enhances the seamless journey the builders have been aiming for. Nevertheless, the off-screen confusion is simply a part of the sport’s notion points. For a platformer, its depth notion is poor. Whereas it’s not a precision platformer, there’s loads of climbing and hopping throughout tiny platforms. The snap-on perform helps—urgent Circle locks onto a close-by stud, letting you align and snap onto surfaces—however even this couldn’t save us from lacking what ought to have been easy jumps resulting from inconsistent depth notion.
“There’s no adaptive split-screen choice and the digital camera angle is static.”
One specific notion challenge is the inconsistent shadows rendering underneath your brick throughout jumps, making it exhausting to evaluate your trajectory. The static digital camera doesn’t assist both. There’s no solution to alter the view, and a lot of the recreation makes use of a excessive, three-quarters perspective. Whereas this angle captures the dimensions of the surroundings effectively, there are occasions when a side-scrolling or pure isometric view would have made navigation simpler.
And I don’t wish to give the impression this can be a damaged and messy recreation; it’s definitely not. However some minor glitches popped up throughout our playthrough. Cases of falling by means of platforms or getting caught in-between bricks occurred greater than we’d have appreciated. One time, I obtained softlocked resulting from being in some awkward out-of-bounds space with no solution to respawn or checkpoint … not with out exiting the sport and loading it again, that’s. All informed, the sport is essentially freed from obtrusive glitches and bugs, however the odd hitch right here and there can impede progress.
The identical might be stated concerning the graphics. It largely works, however has the occasional trip-up. The decision and colour grading on all the person bricks is kind of excessive and nice to take a look at. Although, there might be distracting glare within the lighting at instances. Which, by the way in which, it’s cool how there’s a mushy day/night time cycle in sure small moments of the sport. One flaw that may be patched out is constant display screen tearing on the very prime of the display screen. It’s such a small line of display screen tear that it’s simple to dam out however price noting nonetheless.
Talking of blocking out, the overwhelming majority of puzzles contain piecing collectively bricks to construct the way in which ahead. However I couldn’t shake the sensation {that a} good quantity of puzzles felt repetitive and relatively uninteresting. These repetitive duties usually concerned gathering the few useful Lego items scattered round an surroundings and hauling them to your companion. Which inevitably signifies that backtracking and fetching stuff is a core design of the sport. This backtracking design wouldn’t be so laborious if the fastened digital camera and poor depth notion didn’t frustrate the platforming because it does. In consequence, numerous the duties and puzzles really feel like irritating busywork as a substitute of enjoyable little challenges.
“Puzzles and progress usually contain coordination along with your companion in an natural means.”
One factor I do respect is how emergent the teamwork is within the recreation. Puzzles and progress usually contain coordination along with your companion in an natural means. The best way ahead isn’t spelled out to you, which compels additional dialogue to progress ahead. One memorable space options conveyors that crush massive bricks into single studs: one participant halts the crusher whereas the opposite makes use of a magnetic crane to avoid wasting items for constructing bridges or ladders. These moments of collaboration reward creativity and make you happy with your problem-solving. Sadly, they’re the exception; many puzzles are easy or monotonous, with sluggish backtracking undermining the enjoyable.
In the long run, Lego Voyagers seems like a half-game, half-toy you play to move the time. At greatest, it really works as a team-building train; at worst, it’s a uninteresting time sink. After ending its six-hour marketing campaign, I felt there have been much better methods to spend a day with somebody. That stated, I can see the attraction for youthful gamers or first-time players. Nonetheless, the poor depth notion and tedious backtracking maintain it from being a perfect gateway title. I don’t get pleasure from criticizing it—I’m each a Lego fan and somebody looking forward to extra co-op-focused experiences. Platformers are my second-favorite style after RPGs, so this could have been an ideal match. But when I’m itching for a brick-building expertise filled with creativity and enjoyable, there are a lot of different video games I’d suggest over Lego Voyagers.
This recreation was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.
