Amid the hustle and bustle of E3 and the hundreds of games vying for our attention in that all too short weekend, the announcement that an expanded version of erstwhile Apple Arcade exclusive, LEGO Builder’s Journey, was set to launch on PC and console largely slipped under the radar. Here’s a gentle reminder that the game is out today and available for PC (Steam or the Epic Games Store) and Nintendo Switch.
While bundling in plenty of fun, LEGO games tend to crutch on a major franchise from Star Wars to Harry Potter with some brick building thrown in the mix for good measure. LEGO Builder’s Journey pares things down to the bricks themselves in a light and playful geometric puzzler. It captures the simple pleasure of creative LEGO play. The joy of carefully choosing and snapping pieces together, limited only by our imaginations.
LEGO Builder’s Journey in Glorious RTX
And, boy, does it look good in the process on PC by tapping into all those lovely acronyms synonymous with the cutting edge of graphics: DLSS and RTX. Overkill for a simplistic block-placing sandbox, you might think. But, in action, the LEGO bricks look so polished, accurately rendered, and photo-realistic enough to confuse with the real thing. The LEGO Builder’s Journey trailer attests to this with fascinating amounts of detail, dazzling real-time ray-traced reflections and shadows, and a buttery smooth fluidity to each bricks’ movement. You can watch it just below.
Developer Light Brick Studios, Lego’s in-house development studio, wraps up the relaxing experience in a heartfelt little narrative. It’s seemingly part father and son coming-of-age story, part celebration of creativity in its purest form. As Light Brick notes, it sounds like quite the adventure awaits in LEGO Builder’s Journey:
Take your time to experiment with free-form puzzle solving while immersing yourself in a poetic world of LEGO bricks. Throughout the narrative, there will be ups and downs, challenges, and celebrations. Figuring out who we are and what we become is the Builder’s Journey.”
Again, LEGO Builder’s Journey is available today, June 22, on PC and Nintendo Switch.