A sort of spiritual successor to Builder's Journey, Light Brick Studio's LEGO Voyagers delivers another surprisingly emotive journey filled with fun brain-teasers, and this time, the whole adventure can be enjoyed in two-player co-op. In many ways, LEGO Voyagers feels like the ideal evolution of Builder's Journey's formula, and the perfect encapsulation of what Lego is all about.
LEGO Voyagers Understands The Magic Behind a Simple Construction Toy
LEGO Voyagers tells the tale of two anthropomorphic Lego bricks who witness a rocket crash, and set off to investigate. I don't want to spoil anything about LEGO Voyagers' story, as the subtle unfolding of its plot is one of the game's strongest elements. But much like Builder's Journey, Voyagers' story is easily digestible for younger audiences while boasting plenty of emotive subtext that hits particularly hard for older players, and it delivers a tear-jerking gut-punch in its closing moments that I'll be thinking about for years to come.
That's quite an impressive feat considering LEGO Voyagers uses (mostly) faceless construction toys and no dialogue to deliver its story. And it's even more impressive given just how much freedom players are given during the adventure.
LEGO Voyagers Puts Creativity and Freedom At The Forefront
Physics-based gameplay takes center stage in LEGO Voyagers, driving all three of the title's core gameplay pillars. Players control their Lego brick as it rolls naturally across the game's environments, all of which have been crafted using real-world Lego pieces, and they'll often be asked to engage in light platforming using these physics-based mechanics.
While platforming has the potential to become frustrating given the system's realism, LEGO Voyagers sidesteps this concern completely with its snap system, whereby players can tap a button and become instantly attached to the nearest available stud, saving them from hitting a surface awkwardly and tumbling to their doom following a botched jump. I imagine this snap mechanic will be a life-saver for those playing with younger gamers.
This snap mechanic also becomes an essential part of LEGO Voyagers' building system. Throughout LEGO Voyagers, duos will be tasked with creating a structure to cross a chasm or reach an area of higher elevation. To do this, players need to manually pick up Lego bricks dotted around the environment and place them on top of one another, using the snap system to attach the brick to a specific stud. Platforming and building are often used in conjunction to produce engaging environmental puzzles, LEGO Voyagers' third and most integral gameplay pillar.
But instead of forcing players to create specific structures or jump along a specific path to solve a puzzle, LEGO Voyagers gifts co-op partners with a bevy of bricks, and allows them to solve the puzzle however they see fit. When paired with the game's physics-based mechanics, this abundance of possibility grows exponentially. While that can lead to many of LEGO Voyagers' puzzles feeling a bit too easy, the satisfaction of solving the puzzle is still very much intact, as players have forged their own unique solution using the tools at their disposal.
This wealth of player-freedom and the game's seamless co-op allows LEGO Voyagers to capture the creativity and collaboration that Lego puts at the forefront of its brand. These qualities are further reinforced during one very special sequence in which players are tasked with customizing a vehicle by taking pieces from a conveyor belt, painting them, and manually placing them on the module.
Though this sequence is brief, it captures that universal feeling of rummaging around in a big box of LEGOs trying to find the perfect piece. In addition to highlighting the game's passion for creativity and collaboration, moments like this are likely to evoke a strong and lasting sense of nostalgia in players.
LEGO Voyagers Wants You to Stop and Smell The Plastic Roses
From start to finish, LEGO Voyagers feels like one long warm hug, and its presentation cements that at every turn. Much like Builder's Journey before it, LEGO Voyagers is a truly beautiful video game, boasting some incredibly impressive lighting systems that give the entire game a very cozy vibe.
Sound design is also a core strength of LEGO Voyagers. Though the game's music is pleasant and peaceful, it's used sparingly, which allows Voyagers' sound effects to take the spotlight. Every second of LEGO Voyagers is filled with the satisfying clicks and clacks of LEGO bricks joining together and falling on top of one another, and the high-pitch, Jawa-like voices of the player-controlled bricks are always utterly adorable.
It should also be said that LEGO Voyagers ran like a dream on my base model PS5. Framerate remained consistently high throughout, and there were no technical shortcomings to report aside from one very minor moment of awkward motion blur during one very short sequence.
My only major gripe with LEGO Voyagers is that it's a very short journey, and unfortunately, not a very replayable one. LEGO Voyagers can be finished in just 3–4 hours, and while the inherent freedom found in its puzzles might encourage some to go back and try out alternate solutions, there are no tangible in-game rewards for returning after the credits roll. There's no side content at all in LEGO Voyagers, and no collectibles to find hidden in its beautifully-rendered environments.
Though there's no proper side content in LEGO Voyagers, players are still encouraged to interact and play with everything in the environment, as they'll often be rewarded with PlayStation Trophies/Achievements for doing so.
LEGO Voyagers is an incredibly gorgeous, charming game with a strong emotional core and engaging gameplay. The freedom its physics-based mechanics allow for can lead to some puzzles feeling a tad too easy for older audiences, and its lack of side content might make its short 3–4 hour runtime sting a little. But in spite of that, LEGO Voyagers is an adventure that will have players of all ages grinning from ear to ear, from beginning to end.
LEGO Voyagers is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, and Xbox Series X/S. Game Rant was provided a PlayStation code for this review.
