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I’ve always had a soft spot for Lego games, but the vast majority of them in the past have been based on licensed properties. That’s fine if you’re keen on Star Wars or Batman – and I broadly am – but Lego isn’t just for those fans, it’s for everyone. After playing an early part of Lego Voyagers, I came away feeling like it’s the first game in a long time that I feel really “gets” Lego, and I can’t wait to play more.
When I say that Lego Voyagers “gets” Lego, I should probably clarify what I mean. For me, Lego has never really been about building things with little blocks. That’s a part of it, of course, but the joy of Lego is sharing it with others. It’s about goofing around together, showing off what you’ve done and sharing what you’re doing. Voyagers captures that feeling perfectly.
After a short presentation (that had a few audio issues, thanks Discord), I was thrown into a game with a total stranger. One awkward introduction later, we set off on our Lego voyage together, each of us controlling a single 1×1 Lego block in a Lego world.
Early in our voyage, we discovered that some plants in the world pop off their spores when you run into them, and quickly it became our mission to get every single plant of that kind to pop its spores. It was an impromptu mission, interspersed with some light cooperative puzzling that occasionally turned into slightly heavier cooperative puzzling.
The main thing, though, was those plants. We grabbed Lego planks and blocks in the world to construct bridges that would take us across chasms, used mechanical launchers to propel each other up cliffs, accidentally attached to each other while leaping across gaps – tumbling to our doom in the process – all so we could find the next plant to pop.
It was a delightful, relaxing experience filled with laughs. Mere minutes after meeting for the very first time, a complete stranger and I were laughing and joking our way through the game, coming up with our own challenges, working together and losing it when everything fell apart. We were goofing around together, showing off the silly things we discovered in the process as we stumbled our way through this Lego landscape.
If time and the demo had allowed, I think I could have spent all day playing with my new fellow voyager. It didn’t matter so much that we had never met, or that we didn’t know a single thing about each other. Lego Voyagers brought us together, gave us a purpose, and put smiles on our faces. It was a charming, delightful experience with a game that earned every moment from the very start.
When Lego Voyagers is released on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC on September 15, I probably won’t get to play it with my fellow voyager from that demo. Maybe, instead, I’ll play it with my partner, a friend, a family member, or a colleague, and we’ll have our own fun voyage together — goofing off, showing each other what silly things we’ve done, and sharing an experience that only Lego can bring to the table.
