There was no more trying to find the right block or picking through a minefield of discarded Lego when we sat down to play through construct your own adventure title, Lego Bricktales. Taking the iconic plastic toy and snapping it together with narrative puzzle pieces, this upcoming title from Thuderful Games might initially inherit some of the established Lego aesthetic, but here you are your own hero.
Without the Skywalkers or Marvel’s greatest on screen, Lego Bricktales has the room to establish its own corner of the toybox. While the brightly colored aesthetics and isometric backdrops of this title are easy on the eye, this is far more than pushing a little yellow figurine through a super stylized world. The inviting shades and sharp edges still scream Lego, but this seems to borrow more from Lego Worlds than the TT Games series. The very first tasks, to put a Lego powered GPU back together, found us navigating an environment that seemed to be kitbahsed together by those famous plastic pieces. There’s an authenticity to the level, with everything constructed from standard Lego parts, and yet the central avatar still seems to suggest everything is awesome. It’s a wonderfully balanced design that is always aware of its audience.
This first encounter proves to be the foundation of the entire experience, putting several tasks in front of us that require a little spatial awareness and some dexterity. Mostly it’s about moving bits of plastic around, utilizing the controller to change the view, and understanding how to snap pieces together. That all becomes crucial to this slice of Lego Bricktales, when the tutorial, and a jungle biome open up. A sublime set of controller movement and stacking options provide a ton of control to nudge or snap bricks around the screen, all supported by a functional physics engine. This means when we were asked to put together a bridge or build some stairs, there isn’t any room for a little leeway or flights of fancy. These constructions need to work in the real world. While there is more than one way to overcome most objectives, every solution needs to stand on its own, meet the goal, and support the weight of its intended users. Rickety collaborations of construction techniques won’t cut it and this is where the challenges comes in.
By limiting the available blocks for a range of puzzles and giving players just a few restrictions, Lego Bricktales is surprisingly difficult but not at all frustrating. The mix of sandbox style construction in a theme park narrative, were not particularly mind blowing. They did, however, did explain what players can expect going forward and we found ourselves struggling on more than one occasion with seemingly simple concepts of getting from A to B.
This is the simple genius of Lego Bricktales. While there’s hope that it adds a hints section, there is no pressure leveraged on players. No threat meter ticks down, no timer runs out, and things only fall apart when you put them together. The narrative elements and presentation keep the tone light, while the open-ended nature of the puzzles sparks creativity. We lost more time than you might expect at WASD to this adventure and fully expect to again. if you’re looking for a chilled-out puzzler and loved titles like Scribblenauts then Lego Bricktales is definitely worth watching. Check out more about Lego Bricktales over on the official website, before Lego Bricktales arrives later this year..
