Building bricks

Review

Played on: Xbox Series X
Released: 2021

Thanks to a Discord chat, I was made aware of a newly released indie Lego game, that took me by surprise. Intrigued by its premise of building yourself through a story I decided to jump in. I knew from the get-go it was a short adventure, but it suited a perfect evening of relaxing playthrough in one sitting.

Lego Builder’s Story is highly minimalist styled puzzler. It simply kicks off on a soothing, Lego beach where you are presented with some blocks to build. Slowly it adds more blocks and takes you through the control scheme. Which is based on extreme simplicity: one button to turn a block or hold it to set it down on a matching stud. Using the analogue stick you can move the blocks around or switch through available blocks to build with. There is also a drop block button if you wish to pick up another block instead.

At first it seems like a simple building game, but then it slowly captivates you into this story of a parent and kid. Suddenly the building has a purpose, slowly but steadily it tells a touching story through its small diorama scenes, completely without speech or text. While at the same time increasing its difficulty in its puzzles. It is brilliantly both emotional and challenging.

The presentation shows a tiny segment of Lego world on each screen with a single colour background, a diorama if you wish, with a task to complete in each one. Some are very small, others a little larger. Your task is to guide the kid across the world to the other end. To do this you need to build a pathway that the character will follow automatically. Once completed the screen shifts to the next floating diorama, accompanied by a warm background light colour or darkness with beautiful lit up HDR light sources.

The actual Lego pieces are beautifully realised and look tangibly real on your high-definition screen. Beautiful sunsets throw shadows and a moody orange lighting on certain scenes too.

Accompanying this beautiful and warm world is a melancholic and wonderful soundtrack. Further enhancing this dream like alternate Lego world. I don’t know how to compare this game to other releases, but it has a slight Captain Toad vibe to its viewpoint and puzzle approach, with a more artistic and minimalist audio-visual style, although some of Captain Toads levels ooze this same atmosphere of soothing music and night or sunset scene. It even has that feeling Firewatch builds with atmosphere, emotions and curiosity walking into a world you do not understand why you are put into.

Sure, the controls are a bit fiddly at times when trying to select the right brick and I would have preferred the camera to be more free in its rotation. Keep in mind it's not a game trying to do any complex or deep gameplay in any way, the simplicity is obvious and not a title you'll replay for variation or new experiences. It's more about the experience and curiosity of a first time playthrough. Some might even call it a walking simulator, albeit with less walking and more building!

Lego Builder’s Journey one of those games that just pulls you from beginning to end in one sitting. You simply can’t put it down, and probably aren’t meant to be either, through its two-to-three hour playthrough.

I can warmly recommend it for Lego fans and puzzle game players alike, especially those who like an emotional story presented only by visuals, sound and music without dialogue.