LEGO Worlds launched
Posted by Matthew,
Further to the advert found recently in the back of an instruction book, LEGO has today released an early access version of its new game, LEGO Worlds. As suspected, it is more comparable to Minecraft than the other LEGO games we've seen previously, and is evidently an attempt by LEGO to capitalise from the huge surge in popularity that creative gameplay has seen.
Available to purchase from Steam for £12/$15 (for Windows only at the moment), it is described as a 'fully open-world, creativity-driven game', with the opportunity to 'EXPLORE environments filled with adventure, then alter them? DISCOVER secrets and treasures, then play with them? CREATE your own models, then make a world your own?' within a 'galaxy of procedural worlds made entirely from LEGO bricks'.
See after the break for the full description.
What do you think of this announcement? Naturally the words 'LEGO Universe' spring to mind, but it is to be hoped that a lot more research and planning has gone into this new attempt.
Thanks to all who emailed in the link.
EXPLORE. DISCOVER. CREATE.
LEGO Worlds is a galaxy of procedurally-generated Worlds made entirely of LEGO bricks which you can freely manipulate and dynamically populate with LEGO models.
Explore each World and unlock new discoveries: from cowboys and giraffes to vampires and polar bears, to steamrollers, race cars, and colossal digging machines! Use the multi-tool to shape environments and alter any World to your liking: raise the terrain to create vast mountain ranges, or enter the Brick-by-Brick editor to build anything you can imagine. Save your creations to build with them again. LEGO Worlds enables you to populate your Worlds with many weird and wonderful characters, creatures, models, and driveable vehicles, and then play out your own unique adventures. Probably not worth upsetting the Skeletons though…
LEGO Worlds is currently in Early Access, so be sure to keep coming back for news on updates and plans for future development, as well as discussions with the people behind the scenes.
Explore and Discover the Surprises within LEGO Worlds
- Uncover hidden treasures in environments that range from the fun to the fantastical.
- Make your worlds come to life with customizable characters, both friendly and fearsome
- Race, soar, zoom, and ride on a variety of vehicles and creatures from diggers and helicopters to horses and dragons Create and Customize your own LEGO World
- Build any world you can imagine using the brick-by-brick editor tool and prefabricated LEGO structures
- Modify terrain quickly and easily with the multi-tool.
- Customize your characters in a wide variety of outfits and options.
- Play with a select number of real-life LEGO sets, taken from the Classic and current LEGO themes!
- Export your creations and save them to use again. Expand your LEGO World
- More content, features, and new LEGO play sets to be added in future updates.
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48 comments on this article
The game of my dreams is finally here!
Minecraft, in Lego, with diggers! Will this have some of the dimensions characters I wonder?!??
linux version, please!!!
After reviewing the steam page for it, this game appears to have the potential of an amazing game. I am going to pick up a copy of this without a doubt.
Windows only? Dear LEGO it's 2015, time to wake up.
I still dislike the animation of LEGO games and animated films; why cannot they do it like The LEGO Movie with realistic movement.
This looks amazing! But why no mac version yet??
Going to buy it tomorrow, just have to get some money on steam. Can't wait to play this game.
The official website now also contains some more material on the subject:
http://videogames.lego.com/en-us/lego-worlds
I am so done for next weekend :)
I am SOOOO buying this!!
@TheGreenBrickGiant: Windows only for now, at least. As I understand it there are plans to roll it out for consoles and Mac OSX once they have smoothed out more of the bugs. As a Mac user I'm as frustrated as you are — I was actually invited to participate in beta testing for this, and it wasn't until afterwards that I learned the beta version was Windows only.
Comparisons to LEGO Universe are understandable, but it's important that everybody understand the chief distinction: we haven't heard of any plans to make this an MMO. In other words, even once online multiplayer is rolled out, it will only be with friends, not total strangers. This way LEGO avoids the need to moderate everything, which was a huge liability for LEGO Universe.
From the sounds of it, this is much better than the old Creator I loved as a kid. Standards have changed since 1999. Computers are much more powerful, even average ones like mine. In fact, the old desktop, purchased in 2001 is much less powerful than the new desktop, purchased in 2010, and my laptop, purchased last year.
Some comments here seem to confuse me. Is the one I'll be purchasing the full version, which will be updated to the full version at no extra cost, or will I have to pay extra for the full version later?
I'm surprised how quickly this game came out. Less than a week ago, this was just something that Lego seemingly slipped out by accident on the back of an instruction book, and now it's already out.
Just bought it. I eagerly await playing it.
Whoa... that looks awesome!
Anyone know if you'll get the full version free if you buy the beta version?? (Once the full version comes out.. ;))
LDD plus Minecraft?! HOLY CRAP! I need this game in my life NOW. Will it be released on physical disc? Because my dad won't buy games on Steam, and I don't have a method of online payment.
xbox one. now. give me. ;)
Shame it's PC-only.
Mac please? It is on steam...
Makes sense with the Portal 2 set.
Stop complaining about it being windows only. Things come out for windows first because the majority use windows, and it will come to mac and linux soon. If you wanted to use steam so bad, why do you even own a mac?
Time to buy another steam card...
This looks great. I imagine it would come out on consoles, fingers crossed xboxone.
Just started playing around with it. Definitely loving what I've seen so far. I can see there's going to be tons of objects to interact with. Very straight forward interface, though landscaping is going to take some getting use to as it seems more advanced than MC.
This looks like something I will love. Hope we can build citys with lots of minifigures :D
no console version?
Oh my goodness... This is what Universe was supposed to be all along! I want to look into it a little more, but this may actually be able to dethrone Minecraft. This is basically the ultimate in digital LEGO, and judging by the appearance of airplanes (impromptu dogfights!), there will be even more interactivity with the environment.
This is just incredible. I'll need to see if all my old Universe buddies know about this yet.
EDIT: Aanchir, you make an excellent point. I think part of what made LEGO Universe so expensive was LEGO's relentless commitment to child safety. While admirable, it did make the game pricier to run. This removes the MMO variable, meaning that all funds can now go straight into development. Besides, it allows a greater variety of user-created content, so less developers would be needed for making minigames, new areas, etc. At least, so I would assume. By the way, do we have any details on necessary operating specs? I'd like to know if my old Dual Core processor can run it.
I wish i had that game it look's cool and it sound's good.
going to try this out! and to Nth_Brick
The Minimum is
OS: Windows XP SP3
Processor: Intel Dual Core 2GHz
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: 512MB GPU with Shaders 3.0
DirectX: Version 10
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Hard Drive: 10 GB available space
If you did not know.
Looks like permanent MineCraft creative mode but with LEGO bricks. Interesting. If it's missing the survival aspect that MineCraft offers I doubt it will become more popular than that game, but it can definitely compete with it. $15 is tantalizingly low, too...
Ca't wait to see gameplay! I hope there is survival mode, because I preffer playing that building in virtual worlds.
Hmm... $15? Well it's cheaper than Minecraft. But I would prefer it being free with a paid membership (like Legends of Chima Online).
I've gotten the game. So far I like what I see, you can wander around for hours collecting new vehicles, animals, etc.
I wonder if this means the end of the LEGO Minecraft license after the last range of sets are released this year.
Looks amazing. Waiting to see how you can share what you create, or even have other people in the environment.
A question for anyone who has it - are there any programmable movement or change / reacting features to what you build?
Just got it this morning but first impressions are good. It's kind of LDD meets sandbox meets minecraft style. I haven't found a survival mode yet but it seems to let you build anything.
Seems really good. I played the old creator games. Such a huge progress since....
...but I am afraid, that kids will prefer this GAME than the REAL BRICKS.
@DERKaiser: You'd rather it have paid membership? I wouldn't, I prefer the B2P. =P I don't like constantly having to spend money. =P
Saw this first on here about five minutes ago, looked at a couple of reviews and watched the video on Steam - bought it! Could be a dream come true!
@AlphaMoonWolf: Thanks a lot for the operating specs! Yeah, my PC should be able to run it. I think my processor's clock speed is somewhere in the 2.8 GHz range. Boy, I'm glad I bought a new graphics card last year. :P
@ChicoCheco: You make a good point... That said, aren't LEGO sales up over the past few years even with the popularity of Minecraft? Hey, we actually have Minecraft LEGO sets now, which would seem to speak to the fact that people still like real bricks. One thing I might try, for that matter, is bringing some of my MOCs to life in LEGO Worlds...
Either way, we shall see. As far as I'm concerned, video games =/= real LEGO. They're fun, to be sure, but not better than the real thing.
If I buy the beta version, will I get the full version free once it comes out? Or would I have to pay for both?
Edit: I just watched the trailer again.. ah.. I need this.. o_o
@ChicoCheco: I doubt that. After all, playing with a physical LEGO set is a VERY different experience than playing with the set in a digital world. Not to mention, there's a certain amount of pride in being able to own a thing you love from media in physical form. Why do you think movie, TV, and video game memorabilia (including LEGO sets) are so popular?
Just as there's something magical about bringing a physical character into an interactive digital space (as LEGO Dimensions sets out to allow), there's something just as magical about being able to own and interact with a digital prop, vehicle, or character in physical form.
While I haven't played a lot of the LEGO video games myself, I have done a lot of building on LEGO Digital Designer for many years now. Sometimes I even try to reverse-engineer the actual sets after seeing their designs first revealed at events like New York Toy Fair. But never have those digital LEGO building experiences taken any of the joy out of owning and playing with the physical products.
Let me know when it comes out for consoles.
@josiah you get the final version when you buy early access games on steam
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? WHY WOULD THEY MAKE IT FOR WINDOWS ONLY? SERIOUSLY!
@Master: OK, great, thanks!
@LoL: They'll probably release it elsewhere later. I highly doubt it will stay Windows-Only.
My two children (5 and 7) were playing this last night. They love Minecraft but when I asked my daughter what she thought of Lego Worlds she said "It's better than Minecraft".
There's much more exploration but it's very much like Minecraft on creative, there's not really much you need to do other than create.
Hey everyone, we've been playing this non-stop the last day and a half. The exclamations from the computer room when the kids found a dragon to ride were worth the $15 no worries!
Please remember that at the moment this is an "early access" version of the game. It's more like a tech demo or proof-of-concept.
I'm really impressed with the character animations and the building interface, as well as the graphics in general (the world is clearly made of plastic!).
It's clear there will be a lot more "stuff" added in, and I would expect the build mode to get more complex too. We can also expect a story mode of some kind which probably will function as a tutorial.
And note the game is currently "survival mode" in that you have five health hearts which can be depleted by combat or, you know, walking in lava. You do respawn right away with no real penalty though.
The main mechanic of the game at the moment seems to be: you explore, and as you pass near new objects they get added to your "build" menu. You start the game with a bunch of building templates, but also one official set - a small house.
Methinks many many thousands of hours will be ploughed into this...
Depending on the Mac, it will run in parallels, although even on my 2013 Mac Pro it's a touch laggy - great start though, and I look forward to being able to play a native Mac version eventually :)
To reiterate for the several people complaining that it's Windows only - and don't get me wrong, I use Linux too (Ubuntu and Xubuntu on several devices) and it's definitely a criteria I look at as important - it's still in Early Access on Steam, or 'public alpha' as it might be called elsewhere. I'd imagine they want to get it right on one platform before trying to get it to work on others; this is basically their last shot at getting into this games genre market so its important to get it working perfectly on one platform. Windows for now is the most popular PC gaming platform, so it makes sense for them.
The good news is, Lego's games division works with both Humble and Steam, both of whom provide encouragement and support for getting games to run on Linux/Mac, and usually natively, not just a Wine wrapper or something.
I'm very tempted by this game, I've just gotten Lego Jurassic World and it is a phenomenally well made game so that by itself is doing the marketing for this for me.