LEGO® Voyagers

[code]LEGO Voyagers is a short but heartfelt co-op adventure, offering easy-going puzzles and activities which are perfectly suited for younger players as well. While some control and camera issues slightly dampen the overall experience, it's a great way to spend an afternoon together, albeit a little pricey.[/code] Although the former in-house development studio, Light Brick Games, became independent from the LEGO company after their first game, [i]LEGO Builder’s Journey[/i], the connection to the brand remains, with their second game, [i]LEGO Voyagers[/i], featuring another world made entirely out of plastic bricks. Considering that Annapurna Interactive took over as the publisher this time, renowned for emotive indie games such as my all-time favourite [url= https://store.steampowered.com/app/501300/What_Remains_of_Edith_Finch/]What Remains of Edith Finch[/url], it’s no surprise that [i]LEGO Voyagers[/i] tugs at the heartstrings much more often than one might expect from a game in which two small LEGO blocks serve as the protagonists. Without delving into spoilers, [i]LEGO Voyagers[/i] deserves a lot of praise for how it manages to tell an emotionally touching, all-ages story without using any words at all, instead conveying all developments and feelings through music, sounds, and the protagonists’ eye movements. While more experienced players may be able to tell the direction in which the story is heading early on, the presentation is executed so well that even knowing what’s going to happen doesn’t soften the emotional impact. In terms of gameplay, [i]LEGO Voyagers[/i] offers a mix between small platforming segments and light puzzles, which usually require co-op teamwork. Besides being able to move (roll) and jump around, the protagonists can also attach themselves to other LEGO pieces: This allows them to move certain blocks around, which can thus be used to create entirely new LEGO structures. That said, while one might expect a LEGO game to mainly feature puzzles that involve building new things out of LEGO – like bridges or ramps – [i]LEGO Voyagers[/i] offers a more diverse range of challenges, such as or operating vehicles or timing button presses together. Still, building things out of LEGO bricks remains a core part of the game of course, even if most of the puzzles only use a handful of pieces in total – which may be disappointing to some but comes with the benefit that the result intended by the game remains easily graspable throughout, even for younger players. As the game continues and the journey of the protagonists takes them through different parts of the world, the difficulty of the challenges gradually increases, with puzzles requiring multi-step solutions more often, for example. Yet, the game remains accessible for all ages, as the game sensibly limits the available area for each challenge, allowing even younger players to figure out the relevant parts without getting lost or overwhelmed. Additionally, [i]LEGO Voyagers[/i] offers more than just a constant stream of challenges: Apart from powerful quiet moments, such as taking in the sunset on a bench together, the game also offers many opportunities to simply goof around. Along the journey, many environmental details only exist to offer some silly fun – such as interactable seesaws or swing sets, or even just the flowers popping off once touched. And while the protagonists may not use words, the press of a button does make them sing – or use other sounds depending on the situation – which makes for some great co-op experiences. Speaking of great co-op experiences: [i]LEGO Voyagers[/i] offers both local and online co-op, with the added benefit of a “friend’s pass” being available for the online option – meaning only one player has to own the game, while the other can join after a free download. Considering the game does not allow for solo play, this is great to see, as a playthrough would turn into a much more costly experience otherwise. All of these factors turn [i]LEGO Voyagers[/i] into a charming game that would be easily recommendable, if there weren’t also a few caveats present. For one, while the gameplay challenges [i]LEGO Voyagers[/i] are all charmingly presented and enjoyable throughout, experienced players will have seen most of these before. Additionally, due to its all-ages target audience, [i]LEGO Voyagers[/i] won’t satisfy those looking for major challenges – unfortunately, the game does not offer anything in terms of additional difficulty settings or harder puzzles as optional side content. That said, one required minigame near the end of the game did turn out to be a surprising difficulty spike – however, this can unfortunately be attributed to imprecise controls. In general, control and camera issues turn out to be the biggest issues with [i]LEGO Voyagers[/i], as they’re present throughout the game. While they shouldn’t be considered bad enough to be actively detrimental to the entire experience throughout, they can cause problems often enough that it’s hard to ignore them. The vehicle sections, for example, would be true gameplay highlights of the game, if steering them wasn’t so needlessly clunky. But it’s the building where the controls are truly at their worst: Trying to attach the protagonists to the right LEGO piece when a bunch of them are scattered near each other can involve a lot of useless fiddling around and even setting a piece into the right place doesn’t work even remotely as well as it should for a LEGO game. Considering how central the building mechanic is to the game, it’s surprising that the controls lack the necessary refinement here. Although it’s much less of an issue, the camera of [i]LEGO Voyagers[/i] can cause problems as well – especially once objects in front of the screen are involved and the players are far away from each other. This isn’t unlikely for co-op games, unfortunately, but considering the linear nature of [i]LEGO Voyagers[/i], it does feel out of place. Even more surprising in this regard: One vehicle section in the game actually led to a softlock, requiring a chapter restart, as the transportation device in question got stuck between closing doors. Finally, there’s the short length of [i]LEGO Voyagers[/i] – depending on the amount of dabbling around and experience of the players, the entire experience should only take about 3-5h of playtime total. This makes the game a great fit for a long afternoon on the couch together, but considering the little replay-value the game offers, it may prove a bit too costly at full price for what’s on offer here. Overall, [i]LEGO Voyagers[/i] is a charmingly presented, heartfelt co-op adventure that’s accessible for players of all ages. It may be brief and lack the necessary refinements in some parts but remains enjoyable throughout. While experienced players might find the game a little too easy, it should be a perfect fit for those who are looking for a co-op experience that can be enjoyed with someone with less video game experience.

Very cute game, didn't expect to get so emotional over a game about little red and blue Lego bricks with eyes.

Cool co-op, tad bit repetitive though. The mechanics and puzzles are a novelty for about an hour, and then its kind of just the same thing regurgitated over. Would NOT say its worth almost 40 bucks. If you are gonna play this, maybe buy it on console or switch for a more comfy vibe, and I think a bigger screen COULD make it more fun! It's NOT a bad game, but I've played alot of coops, and this is lackluster compared to others, its also WAY to expensive for what youre getting. Catch it on sale maybe? Other Coop games I like better: It takes 2, A way out, BG3, Any FPS, Bread & Fred, Stardew Valley... Etc....

A game that was a HUGE emotional rollercoaster. Thought it was just a chill co-op game but it managed to suprised me in so many good ways.

what a cool, beautiful little game. very pretty, very cool co-op mechanics could do with accessibility options: changing the colors of the players, remapping controls, disabling controller vibrations played for free with the friend's pass. not a cheap game for a 4h experience, but I'd say it's worth it. like paying for an imax diffusion of a good movie

i love my blue

No crossplay with PS5 was possible for me under Linux because the Epic Integration did not work, I only was able to invite Steam friends. So I had to refund. We played it on Epic then and there it worked. But I cannot recommend it. I mean it's cute and all but we were really suprised when after just 3 hours the credits were shown. This game has the worst euros to playtime ratio I've ever seen in my whole life. This game is waaay too expensive. 5 Euros ok, but 25? For 3hrs? I wish we would have given up after trying to get the Steam version to run. Why is it always the big companies and brands who are like this? Some days ago we played Big Walk for 20 hours and we only had to pay 10 bucks and it even is much more fun and has an open world, while LEGO Voyager is extremely linear. It has nice graphics but the puzzles were kinda lame and too easy. What I also did not like was there were a lot of invisible walls and a lot of "pseudo ways" without any secrets, like a bridge and you think you can go there and find something but then there's absolutely nothing but an invisible wall. Yeah .. cannot recommend. Even if it's fun, it's crazy expensive for full price.