Summary

  • Lego games reached oversaturation a while, and this feels like an idea years too late.
  • Companies have been feasting on nostalgia and tie-ins, but they feel less special every time.
  • There's too much IP everywhere these days.

I used to think Lego games were just about the coolest things on Earth. Three things have changed since then - I'm a little older, Lego games became oversaturated, and the world has moved on. We don't talk enough about the third one. As news emerges that 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:there could be a Lego Horizon game on the waꦛy - as in, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Horizon Zero Dawn - it's worth considering whether we're at the stagꦓe of capitalism we might call Post-IP.

I don't think personally outgrowing Lego games is much of a factor. I still play plenty of kid-friendly games, from Pokemon to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Princess Peach Showtime, as well as fitting in yearly replays of Crash and Spyro, and have a great time. My nephew is just discove𓆏ring v🍨ideo games and has taken to Lego Marvel, and I enjoy playing them with him. Growing older might have led to a wider range of options no longer making Lego a go-to, but it hasn't put me off Lego full stop.

There Is Too Much IP In Gaming Now

Multiversus Title Art

Instead, I think that is a symptom of modern gaming. Lego games became increasingly more frequent as they increase𒊎d in popularity, and started to feel churned out, especially as they moved from Legoised retellings of movies into weird toy boxes with not much happening and nothing going on. It's beyond Lego though - a decade ago the idea of a leading PlayStation franchise getting a Lego game would have been huge news. Now, it's met with a shrug. Maybe even an eye roll.

We are thoroughly crossovered out. Two unrelated characters meeting up used to be a major event, an epic tale that would go down in the annals of each series' respective histories. Now, it's marketing. It's the brainchild of algorithms and focus groups and profit-generating pie charts that just feels a little hollow. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:MultiVersus and particularly Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl have their own issues, but a decade earlier that concept would have🌞 killed - just look at how fondly remembered PlayStation's own version is, despite being a below average fighting game.

The problem with these crossovers is that everyone is doing them, so they're not special. We've only just heard about 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Funko's oꦉwn game, made by former🌳 Lego devs and existing in the same vein as those titles, just with big ugly bobbleheads in place of yellow bricks. We've reached a saturation point for crossovers, sequels, prequels,𒅌 spin-offs, 🅷and reboots. Everyone is trying to get their hands on our nostalgia but they've eaten it all, there's nothing left but crumbs. Now news that our childhood favourites are coming back is met with trepidation, with hopes that they don't ruin it all, rather than excitement.

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Fortnite’s L𒆙ego game had an excellent reception despite - ironically for Fortnite - having no IP attachment and just being a classic sandbox game.

Of course, you could argue this doesn't apply to Lego Horizons. Zero Dawn launched in 2017, so that's hardly a throwback to childhood nostalgia for most of us, and one individual property being Legoised is not a crossover. But when I saw the leaks, I was struck by how little I cared. I loved the Lego games, and even enjoyed the likes of Disney Infinity once upon🧜 a time. And while a little underwhelmed by Forbidden West not seizing its potential, I have a lot of affection for Horizon and count Zero Dawn amongst my favourites on PS4. I should care. I don't care.

It's harsh to judge the game before we get an reveal trailer (or even an official confirmation), and it may end up being great. Certainly, I'm still curious enough to try it, even if it can't motivate any hype. But it feels as 🎉if this typifies soᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚme of the thinking behind modern mainstream ideas. Someone from Lego met someone from PlayStation and they came up with the best way to make money. That is what business always has been, but everything feels more transparent and cold now - I no longer see the shiny toys I'm supposed to see, but the spreadsheets in boardrooms that caused them to spring forth. Maybe I am just too old.

horizon-forbidden-west-tag-cover.jpg
Horizon Forbidden: West
Adventure
Action
Systems
4.0/5
Released
February 18, 2022
ESRB
t
Developer(s)
Nixxes
Publisher(s)
Nixxes
Engine
Decima
Franchise
Horizon

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
PHYSICAL

Horizon Forbidden West again follows Aloy as she navigates a post-catastrophic world populated by mechanical fauna. She must travel west into unknown territory in order to find a GAIA backup and save the planet's biosphere.