When Annapurna first unveiled LEGO Voyagers at Summer Game Fest this year, I was beyond intrigued, but unfortunately it wasn’t in a playable state. Since then, it kind of fell off the radar, but I jumped as soon as we got codes for the game.
LEGO Voyagers offers a different take from your typical LEGO game in a bunch of ways. Other than it being a LEGO title itself, it doesn’t rely on other IP or slapstick comedy. Instead, Voyagers is a two-player cooperative adventure with a nonverbal narrative. The game completely relies on its setting and level design to keep you invested.
Players take on the role of little single-clasped LEGO bricks, one blue and one red, who live together on an island overlooking a space center. For some reason, they go on a journey to that space center in the hopes of being a part of that launch sequence. Of course, this is a video game. Getting from point A to point B is always a journey.
As these LEGOs, you can do three things: roll, jump, and attach yourself to other LEGOs, which is essential because the game’s setting is entirely made up of LEGOs. Most of what you’ll do in the game is figure out how to get to various areas and move forward. There’s no combat to speak of. Players will primarily be solving puzzles with light platforming.
You do way more than just swing in LEGO Voyagers, but it’s a wholesome experience either way.
Some of these puzzles are simple. If there’s no where to go but up, the answer is typically to find some loose bricks and build yourselves some higher ground to climb up and move on. If you come across a gap that you can’t jump far enough to clear, the answer is typically to find loose bricks to build a bridge.
Again, LEGO Voyagers is a two-player cooperative adventure. If you’ve played It Takes Two or any of Hazelight’s other games, you should know what to expect when it comes to the teamwork aspect of gameplay. Some cooperative puzzles usually involve one player taking control of a crank or lever to move a platform or something in order to make the other player maneuver across various obstacles. It’s a lot of stress-free, cozy stuff.
All this said, I wouldn’t necessarily call the game easy. Sure, a lot of the puzzles are simple, but if both players don’t like puzzles, there isn’t going to be a whole lot of fun here, especially since there isn’t any combat.
There were two areas we were really stuck at. One was just because we didn’t know what to do, and the other was a skill-based challenge near the end of the game that I believe should not have been required since it required motor skills in a minigame that honestly felt pretty finnicky.
Compared to the rest of the game, the world with the train is HUGE, and it was the one level we spent the most time being confused in.
If two newbie gamers were playing the game, it might also prove to be quite difficult. The direction to go in the game isn’t always obvious, and more core gamers will definitely have an easier time because of context clues like yellow bricks littered around each map. Voyagers very much follows that Uncharted and Tomb Raider formula of noting color to understand what parts of the environment you have to interact with, and it’s tough to say new games will find it that simple to understand.
I played the game with my girlfriend who, prior to this game, had never rolled credits on a video game before. She’s not a gamer. When I told her to press the circle button, she’d look down at the controller to find the button–pretty much what you’d expect. There were definitely some skill issues, primarily with platforming, but I could tell she was motivated enough to see it through. A big part of it is the fact that the game’s PR team said it would roughly take five hours to finish — we took eight, and I honestly think it likely would’ve taken my brother (who I normally play these games with) and I near the same amount of time.
Here are her thoughts:
“I’m a novice. The design at times made it difficult to understand how to progress forward, so having Danreb there be the one to analyze it was critical. Definitely see how it’s a 2-person game. You’d think it being a LEGO game means easy—definitely wasn’t. You have to think. Be strategic. Much of it was Danreb building the bridges for us to get around. Because oddly enough, I had two left “hands” and would take forever to coordinate properly. Like, no idea why. Whatever. I did appreciate certain parts of each level indicating repetition. The lighting for tasks to indicate successful completion. So if you can’t move forward, you didn’t complete everything. That one chapter with all the tasks to complete took too long because maneuvering objects was a bitch. Yeah, the transportation. The car and the boat and the little kart thingy. Yikes.
As someone who has little patience depending on the situation, I finally was able to feel a sense of accomplishment reaching the end. Felt like an eternity, really. But teamwork literally was it.”
Screw this puzzle.
It’s funny, really. Despite reviewing games for over two decades, I still struggle to talk about the problems some games have, especially with games I really enjoy playing. If I didn’t watch my girlfriend struggle with this particular aspect, I don’t think I would’ve mentioned it. As you’d expect, building is an essential tool in LEGO Voyagers, and it’s something that my partner just didn’t want to do. So as I was forced to do all the building, I did find it annoying to make my character stick to certain bits and pieces that are laid out around other bricks. The “hitbox,” if you will, was never quite apparent, and I found myself throwing blocks away from others to be sure that I’d be grabbing blocks I actually wanted to attach to.
Some awkwardness with controls aside, LEGO Voyagers was quite the entertaining experience that impressed both me and my partner with its clever level design and story that somehow tugged at heart strings. One key thing about the setting I haven’t mentioned until this point is the fact that while there’s all sorts of charming stuff happening in this world, it’s empty. Blue and Red seem to be the only “living” things here. I’m sure this was a purposeful decision made by the team to give the game a surprisingly dark overtone, but it also helped make the experience playing with a loved one more special.
There definitely will be some frustration whether you’re a hardcore or casual player, but the developers at Light Brick Studio really outdid themselves with this nonverbal adventure. Having the LEGO protagonists talk to each other with the random noises they made (CHOO-CHOO!) exuded charm, and it all led up what ended up being quite an emotional ending. While it doesn’t have nearly the same focus on presentation as a Hazelight game does, LEGO Voyagers is a more than worthy choice if you’re looking for a charming multiplayer adventure.
When Annapurna first unveiled LEGO Voyagers at Summer Game Fest this year, I was beyond intrigued, but unfortunately it wasn’t in a playable state. Since then, it kind of fell off the radar, but I jumped as soon as we…
When Annapurna first unveiled LEGO Voyagers at Summer Game Fest this year, I was beyond intrigued, but unfortunately it wasn’t in a playable state. Since then, it kind of fell off the radar, but I jumped as soon as we got codes for the game.
LEGO Voyagers offers a different take from your typical LEGO game in a bunch of ways. Other than it being a LEGO title itself, it doesn’t rely on other IP or slapstick comedy. Instead, Voyagers is a two-player cooperative adventure with a nonverbal narrative. The game completely relies on its setting and level design to keep you invested.
Players take on the role of little single-clasped LEGO bricks, one blue and one red, who live together on an island overlooking a space center. For some reason, they go on a journey to that space center in the hopes of being a part of that launch sequence. Of course, this is a video game. Getting from point A to point B is always a journey.
As these LEGOs, you can do three things: roll, jump, and attach yourself to other LEGOs, which is essential because the game’s setting is entirely made up of LEGOs. Most of what you’ll do in the game is figure out how to get to various areas and move forward. There’s no combat to speak of. Players will primarily be solving puzzles with light platforming.
You do way more than just swing in LEGO Voyagers, but it’s a wholesome experience either way.
Some of these puzzles are simple. If there’s no where to go but up, the answer is typically to find some loose bricks and build yourselves some higher ground to climb up and move on. If you come across a gap that you can’t jump far enough to clear, the answer is typically to find loose bricks to build a bridge.
Again, LEGO Voyagers is a two-player cooperative adventure. If you’ve played It Takes Two or any of Hazelight’s other games, you should know what to expect when it comes to the teamwork aspect of gameplay. Some cooperative puzzles usually involve one player taking control of a crank or lever to move a platform or something in order to make the other player maneuver across various obstacles. It’s a lot of stress-free, cozy stuff.
All this said, I wouldn’t necessarily call the game easy. Sure, a lot of the puzzles are simple, but if both players don’t like puzzles, there isn’t going to be a whole lot of fun here, especially since there isn’t any combat.
There were two areas we were really stuck at. One was just because we didn’t know what to do, and the other was a skill-based challenge near the end of the game that I believe should not have been required since it required motor skills in a minigame that honestly felt pretty finnicky.
Compared to the rest of the game, the world with the train is HUGE, and it was the one level we spent the most time being confused in.
If two newbie gamers were playing the game, it might also prove to be quite difficult. The direction to go in the game isn’t always obvious, and more core gamers will definitely have an easier time because of context clues like yellow bricks littered around each map. Voyagers very much follows that Uncharted and Tomb Raider formula of noting color to understand what parts of the environment you have to interact with, and it’s tough to say new games will find it that simple to understand.
I played the game with my girlfriend who, prior to this game, had never rolled credits on a video game before. She’s not a gamer. When I told her to press the circle button, she’d look down at the controller to find the button–pretty much what you’d expect. There were definitely some skill issues, primarily with platforming, but I could tell she was motivated enough to see it through. A big part of it is the fact that the game’s PR team said it would roughly take five hours to finish — we took eight, and I honestly think it likely would’ve taken my brother (who I normally play these games with) and I near the same amount of time.
Here are her thoughts:
“I’m a novice. The design at times made it difficult to understand how to progress forward, so having Danreb there be the one to analyze it was critical. Definitely see how it’s a 2-person game. You’d think it being a LEGO game means easy—definitely wasn’t. You have to think. Be strategic. Much of it was Danreb building the bridges for us to get around. Because oddly enough, I had two left “hands” and would take forever to coordinate properly. Like, no idea why. Whatever. I did appreciate certain parts of each level indicating repetition. The lighting for tasks to indicate successful completion. So if you can’t move forward, you didn’t complete everything. That one chapter with all the tasks to complete took too long because maneuvering objects was a bitch. Yeah, the transportation. The car and the boat and the little kart thingy. Yikes.
As someone who has little patience depending on the situation, I finally was able to feel a sense of accomplishment reaching the end. Felt like an eternity, really. But teamwork literally was it.”
Screw this puzzle.
It’s funny, really. Despite reviewing games for over two decades, I still struggle to talk about the problems some games have, especially with games I really enjoy playing. If I didn’t watch my girlfriend struggle with this particular aspect, I don’t think I would’ve mentioned it. As you’d expect, building is an essential tool in LEGO Voyagers, and it’s something that my partner just didn’t want to do. So as I was forced to do all the building, I did find it annoying to make my character stick to certain bits and pieces that are laid out around other bricks. The “hitbox,” if you will, was never quite apparent, and I found myself throwing blocks away from others to be sure that I’d be grabbing blocks I actually wanted to attach to.
Some awkwardness with controls aside, LEGO Voyagers was quite the entertaining experience that impressed both me and my partner with its clever level design and story that somehow tugged at heart strings. One key thing about the setting I haven’t mentioned until this point is the fact that while there’s all sorts of charming stuff happening in this world, it’s empty. Blue and Red seem to be the only “living” things here. I’m sure this was a purposeful decision made by the team to give the game a surprisingly dark overtone, but it also helped make the experience playing with a loved one more special.
There definitely will be some frustration whether you’re a hardcore or casual player, but the developers at Light Brick Studio really outdid themselves with this nonverbal adventure. Having the LEGO protagonists talk to each other with the random noises they made (CHOO-CHOO!) exuded charm, and it all led up what ended up being quite an emotional ending. While it doesn’t have nearly the same focus on presentation as a Hazelight game does, LEGO Voyagers is a more than worthy choice if you’re looking for a charming multiplayer adventure.
by Danreb Victorio
