How Lego Voyagers teaches you co-op puzzles without using a single word

[ad_1] Earlier than serving as the muse for humorous films and nice Batman video games, Lego bricks have at all times been a strong toy that permits us to give you all types of adventures. Lego Voyagers, a puzzle sport from Gentle Brick Studio out Sept. 15, affords an introspective co-op expertise with no phrases, the place gamers should join and collaborate to resolve puzzles.

In a video interview with Polygon, inventive director Karsten Lund talked to us about making Voyagers and the concepts the studio pursued when designing a co-op expertise the place gamers should crack puzzles, however with no exposition or written clarification provided to contextualize actions or issues that must be solved.

“We imagine there’s one thing occurring within the interpretive a part of the mind that must be saved alive always, and that it simply enjoys issues higher if it interprets itself or solves its personal issues. The worst factor is when a puzzle is spoiled or any person tells you how you can clear up it,” Lund mentioned.

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" alt="An official Lego Voyagers screenshot showing the two brick characters on top of a blue train." data-img-url="https://static0.polygonimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/legovoyagers_interview_train.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2" src="https://static0.polygonimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/legovoyagers_interview_train.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2"/> Picture: Gentle Brick Studio/Annapurna

The absence of phrases means there isn't any quest log or any form of indication of the subsequent goal. The choice to create a playground the place two gamers can idiot round however ultimately discover the trail taught Lund's workforce how you can stability their needs with gamers’ freedom. “We like to see individuals attempt various things till they get it. And for those who take away each single tutorial or phrase or exposition, you've got a number of room for that. However then, when it's a must to get a degree throughout, it's worthwhile to be very, very clear,” Lund mentioned.

When designing Voyagers, Gentle Brick Studio sought to silently information gamers via the trail they need to take, whereas permitting for a private and distinctive playful expertise. The aim simulates what Lund known as "playful studying.” Though the workforce has constructed a story for Voyagers, the inventive director defined that what issues most is that gamers create their very own journey. “We nonetheless get completely different interpretations, however that’s really excellent, as a result of it’s your expertise, not ours. Now, it’s the viewers’s flip to take it and make it their very own," Lund mentioned.

To counterpoint the journey, whereas stimulating extra than simply logical pondering, the workforce has populated the sport with completely different experiences of play. From little rockets to humorous popping crops, there are a lot of toys to have interaction with inside the sport.

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" alt="An official Lego Voyagers screenshot showing both characters playing on the seesaw" data-img-url="https://static0.polygonimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/legovoyagers_interview_seesaw.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2" src="https://static0.polygonimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/legovoyagers_interview_seesaw.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2"/> Picture: Gentle Brick Studio/Annapurna

“Toy play and sport play, they're very various things," Lund mentioned. "The place sport play is a form of quantifiable end result play, the place we wanna full stuff, wanna transfer additional, you wanna ‘beat the sport’ — which is enjoyable in itself — toy play is for no motive, only for the sake of it. You make your individual guidelines, you experiment, you attempt. We needed to attempt to add extra of that in there, as a result of we imagine it additionally represents the Lego concept.”

On the middle of every little thing are the Lego bricks. They constructed each the bottom Gentle Brick Studio's workforce labored with and the constraints they labored round to create Lego Voyagers. The inventive labor concerned in utilizing Lego to painting an concept is immense. Lund shared that the studio has Lego masters and former Lego staff engaged on discovering one of the best mixture of bricks to attain their inventive imaginative and prescient.

“We are attempting to have a good time the brick for its personal sake. So every little thing is clearly brick-built within the sport, other than the water. However we additionally tried to brick-built the entities within the sport, just like the animals, as an example. We've got crabs which might be made out of 1 single brick with two clips, birds which might be manufactured from just a few bricks,” Lund mentioned. “Our ethos is to attempt to use native bricks, if you'll, the only brick doable, and mix them in very small fashions however nonetheless retain the visible expression of what it's representing.”

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" alt="An official Lego Voyagers screenshot showing both characters next to a large structure that resembles a camera" data-img-url="https://static0.polygonimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/legovoyagers_interview_tumbling.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2" src="https://static0.polygonimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/legovoyagers_interview_tumbling.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2"/> Picture: Gentle Brick Studio/Annapurna

Behind a Lego brick, there are countless prospects of play that one can dream about. Dreaming is a vital subject within the sport, being represented by the characters’ curiosity within the cosmos and need to grow to be astronauts.

“What area represents on this sport is the dream. And I feel {that a} voyage is an enormous journey," Lund mentioned. "These two pals, they only dream about changing into astronauts, which a number of Lego bricks do, really. Nevertheless it’s one thing we will all relate to. Constructing our personal rocket and diving into that dream. Enjoying on the whole is about dreaming, and about pretending one thing for a time period.”