LEGO Builder’s Journey – PC Review

Last year’s Apple arcade exclusive returns, this time to Switch and PC, with lots more content and has ended up being a big raytracing showcase on PC.

Story

Not much to say here, but the story is delightful and whimsical, played out visually, and is a tale of a parent and their child on a trip that ends up turning into a full-blown journey. I particularly like this form of storytelling; it feels very organic and is oddly enthralling.

Gameplay

The gameplay is the same as the original AA release, just around twice the length. The game will likely take you around two hours and is on the short side. Each level is a small square, as seen in the images with Lego-based puzzles. You’ll generally have puzzle pieces already provided and must work out how to use them to get to where you need to be. They do, however, get more complex as time goes on and can be challenging and are genuinely enjoyable.

Visuals

As mentioned previously, the game is a Ray Tracing showcase. There’s more noise than in the videos Nvidia posted, but it still does indeed have that lifelike look to it. There has never been such a realistic virtual recreation of Legos and can be quite stunning at times. If you’re looking for a game that’s sexy and are not fussed about anything else, then this is a game you might be interested in.

Sound

The soundtrack is very calming and goes together perfectly with the whimsical nature of the storytelling and environments. It all gels very well and delivers a very soothing experience. The sound does the job it needs to do and does it perfectly.

PC Performance

Surprisingly, the game is very taxing. On my 3080 OC, 8700K rig, I could dip as low as 30fps at 1440p with no DLSS, and as high as 80, depending on the level. DLSS is DLSS 2.2; it gives a performance jump for sure, but I can still tell the resolution is not native which is why I turned off DLSS since the game isn’t really something you need a high number of frames for. To my surprise, however, the game runs worse for me with RT disabled. I have done many things to verify it was not a bug and it isn’t. I’ve seen benches of a 2060 only pulling 30fps in an average level scenario with no DLSS at 1440p. So, keep that in mind. Optimization-wise, I think it should be running better than it is.

Conclusion

Lego Builder’s Journey is a lovely decent puzzler, a perfect chill-out game, and quite a soothing, enjoyable, and unique experience. It also looks amazing if you have an RTX-capable rig. However, at only around 2 hours long and £15 retail, I’m not sure I can really recommend it at its current price. It’s a solid, competent puzzle game, that does a surprising ray tracing flex, but is over soon with little to no replay value at all.

If you can get this on a sale for around half the price, I would say it’s worth it. At full price, it depends on how much you enjoy puzzlers, and Lego-themed ones at that. It feels just like Lego pieces – it has a premium attached to it because of the name.

7/10

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