There are now two LEGO games in the Apple Arcade store: LEGO Brawls, and  LEGO Builder?s Journey, and they couldn?t be further apart when it comes to tone.
LEGO Brawls is a frenetic, zany combat game that does its best to mimic a Super Smash Bros. vibe using over-the-top item-based combat on varied stages. It has a lighthearted, joking spirit that’s more or less in line with every piece of LEGO media that’s been released since LEGO Island made its way to PC in the late 90s.
But now, LEGO has its own in-house developer, Light Brick Studios, and they’ve taken a completely different approach to LEGO with their first game, LEGO Builder’s Journey. The result is a more meditative, slow-paced, and nostalgic game offering players puzzles to solve through building structures with bricks to navigate paths through each level.
The change in tone is made immediately obvious the moment the game opens, with its somber dynamic lighting, thoughtfully-designed landscapes, and atmospheric sound design filled with reverberating sound effects and slow, ambient music. The game is, in short, absolutely gorgeous — an unusual bit of praise to give a game with characters and environments made up entirely out of LEGO bricks, but one that’s well-deserved. Light Brick Studios has taken a familiar toy and turned it into the building blocks of a believable, enchanting world.
The most telling change, however, is the complete absence of LEGO’s iconic minifigures...