The coolest LEGO game will currently cost you only $15

When I walked into the office yesterday, my fellow co-worker, Lance, asked me if I heard about this new LEGO game that came out. I had to stop and think about it for a second, since I knew there was a LEGO game coming this month, but that wasn't for another two weeks. "It's called LEGO Worlds, and it's pretty much a LEGO version of Minecraft," he said.

I paused for a bit, didn't want to get too eager or too excited. The first thing that came to my mind is "Must be a free-to-play title," and immediately after that asking "How much am I going to have to spend to buy in-game goodies?" I was immediately caught off guard with the response that it's a one-time purchase through Steam Early Access, and that all of the game's in-game goodies are unlocked by simply playing the game and purchasing them with studs. Mind blown.

It's sad that we live in a day and age where a lot of seemingly cool announcements these days end up being something free-to-play, or a MOBA, or most of the time both. LEGO Worlds was neither, and it looked like it was just the game I've been craving for.

You see the one thing I loved doing in Minecraft besides building odd-shaped houses was actually exploring the world and its caverns below. You never knew what was going to be behind that layer of stone until you whipped out that pickaxe and went to town. That same sense of discovery is actually very much present in LEGO Worlds, Traveler's Tale own take on the Minecraft formula though a bit more simplified.

But where it took Minecraft a while to actually get started, especially if you were in the game's Adventure mode, LEGO Worlds literally drops you in a world of possibility right from the start.

To be fair, I wasn't really sure what I was doing when I landed. I saw a skeleton and I fought it. Immediately a notification popped up showing the skeleton icon go into my "inventory" of sorts. Curious to see what that meant, I scrolled through to the purchase section to find that the skeleton was now a character I could purchase and play as for just over 1000 studs. "Cool!" I exclaimed. So I decided to run around a bit more. On the horizon I saw a horse. Upon walking up to it, I was notified that I can mount it by pressing E. Just like that, I had a mount. I spent the next few minutes riding around that area until before me I saw a glorious mode of transportation; an airplane.

Now let me just elaborate on this. When I saw the airplane in the distance, I had a very vocal response. "Whoa!" I couldn't believe that the game just gave me an airplane when I just played it for about 10 minutes. Seeing that airplane gave me the same feeling I got for coming across one in GTA V, except there I had to play for a few hours before I could actually find one. Naturally, I took to the skies.

It definitely made exploring much easier, but despite having this amazing high ground, I was actually grounded not that long after, willingly. I was enticed by a treasure chest on top of a tower, that I so gracefully jumped to from my airplane.

In it was a camera. Okay, cool, but I got more exploring to do! Not that far from the chest, I saw the cutest little puppy. Maybe he'd follow me. I went to check him out only to find that he too allowed me to ride him. He apparently didn't mind, so he became my next mode of transportation.

Not that far from where I found the dog I saw another, larger animal. Curious to see if it would attack me, I approached it. Low and behold, I was now riding on a polar bear. To make myself fit in with the theme, I purchased the Yeti character.

What's cooler than a Yeti on a polar bear? A Yeti on a skateboard! Well, actually, a Yeti on a polar bear is literally cooler but you know what I mean.

After a bit I was missing my airplane, which I could no longer find by foot. Luckily, the game's shop menu allowed me to purchase the vehicle with my leftover studs and spawn me directly into it.

The fact is, LEGO Worlds is an interesting experiment in player freedom. Within minutes I was going from mount to mount, getting on horses, planes, polar bears, and skateboards, unlocking characters like wizards, and Yetis. And while the game still felt a bit barren at the time, it is important to note that LEGO Worlds is still in Early Access.

I haven't even touched on the game's building mechanics yet. After spending some more time with the game, I'll report back with my creations. However, if you enjoyed LEGO games in the past, and love collecting those tiny little shiny studs to unlock more cool stuff to build and use when exploring, this game has it in troves.

Is it a Minecraft killer? Well, I'm not entirely sure. I think the games are wildly different, despite offering players the chance to build practically anything they want. This year alone we're seeing the LEGO Jurassic World game coming later this month, as well as the ambitious LEGO Dimensions which will capitalize on the toys-to-videogame craze, and even despite all of that, LEGO Worlds offers something unique. Time will tell where Traveler's Tale takes this game in the future, but this is an amazingly solid start.

You can check out the game in Early Access right here.