Lego Horizon Adventures: Every Playable Character, Ranked

Lego Horizon Adventures has recently been released to the acclaim of fans, despite a few issues overall. The game represents the latest iteration of the Lego game format, where the cutesy borderline parodies of the Star Wars trilogies have been replaced with glossy 1:1 replicas of the source material in question.

With expectations higher than ever for the third entry in the Horizon series, fans will take almost anything new in this world to tide them over. But among the various playable characters in the game, each an icon within the Horizon universe, who stands out as the best character of all? These characters usually only have one or two traits setting them apart, so the only way these Horizon characters are being ranked is on how fun their specific Lego weapon type is to play.

4 Varl

A War Chief’s Son Determined To Prove Himself

• Weapon: Spear
• Playstyle: Melee focused, agile

Varl’s story is one of grim bloodshed and vengeance in Horizon, taking on many themes about regret and living in the shadow of those that came before. At one stage, Varl was competing with his sister, Vala, for the attention of his mother, a legendary war chief. After becoming a Brave and then, years later, losing his sister, now he still vies for his mother’s attention with the legacy of this sibling who has been lost to violence. Much of the game has this Brave assisting Aloy in her travels and coming to terms with the treachery of the Eclipse and their attack that cost his sister’s life. In the Lego version of the game, he’s more of a goofy and occasionally wacky lighthearted foil to Aloy.

The main things differentiating the playable characters in this game are their fighting styles. Plenty of players will have fun with Varl, but his spear is easily the most basic weapon type of the game, lacking the range or AoE potential that other weapons have, and only counting for speed in a game that doesn’t really penalize slow movement. As a fan-favorite character, however, he’s sure to still see some attention.

3 Erend

A Rowdy Comedic Character With Surprising Depth

• Weapon: Hammer
• Playstyle: Melee-focused, heavy attacks

Erend is a lovable character, loyal to a fault if a little too in love with the drink. Forbidden West branching out from Aloy’s story exclusively by letting her spend more time with her friends gave many fans the opportunity to explore who Erend really was, and they liked what they saw. Erend’s rambunctious personality means he’s already a bit of a better fit for this lighthearted game, which lets people take his wackiness at face value and not masking tactics to hide the damage and scars from a fairly traumatizing childhood at the hands of an abusive father.

With much hope that Horizon‘s next installment will give this character more time to shine, Erend and his huge hammer – incredibly cathartic to use in this game – are sure to delight people as playable options in this title.

2 Aloy

The Iconic Lead Herself

• Weapon: Bow and Arrows
• Playstyle: Ranged focus, agile

The titular main character of the Horizon series is how players view the strange, chaotic, and often terrifying world of these games. She’s a hunter of unparalleled strength and skill, in no small part due to the tutelage of her father, Rost, and she is the central focus of Lego Horizon Adventures. Even if players on single player are choosing to use another character for a level, Aloy is the one to appear in cutscenes. The continued attention of both Forbidden West and Zero Dawn by both fans and developers alike is in no small part due to Aloy’s journey and how people have connected with her and the world she lives in.

Her bow and arrow is not the most conventional weapon in a Lego game, but it handles smoothly and satisfyingly, with a very impactful landing on enemies and a surprising amount of utility for navigation or environmental attacks. Aloy is as skilled with this bow in the Lego universe as she is with the bow in the regular one, and fans are sure to enjoy using this character as much as they do for the non-Lego titles.

1 Teersa

A Wise Mentor And Guide For The Nora Tribe

• Weapon: Bombs
• Playstyle: Ranged focus, AoE attacks

A kind and compassionate ruler who seeks only the safety of her tribe, Teersa is the person who guides the Nora Tribe – or one of them, at least. She’s arguably the High Matriarch who gets the most screen time and has shown to care deeply about Aloy and her quests over the two games. So what puts her in the top spot on this list, over even the Lego version of the protagonist herself? Is it her characterization in Lego form? The insight it lends into her non-Lego self?

Bombs. It’s bombs. Teersa presents the most cathartic form of the standard gameplay in this title because her weapon, rather than being simply melee or ranged, is bombs, and it’s an intensely satisfying experience to lob these blocky explosives around the map.