Lego Hidden Side
Review

Lego Hidden Side (2019) is a (discontinued) adventure game you play by building physical Lego kits and then interacting with them via an augmented reality app on your Smartphone. The app was discontinued in early 2023 reducing existing Lego Hidden Side sets to just physical play. Previously, as explained below, after building you could put the kits on the app camera and see them come to life on the screen with a narrative and a range of characters and mysteries to solve.

There are a wide range of sets for different prices, as well as individual figures to collect. Each one opens and unlocks new content on the Lego Hidden Side app. This offers not only an initial novelty but new content, challenges and adventures throughout the year.

You interact with the sets by moving and manipulating colour-coded sections of the models. As you do you rouse angry poltergeists or get the unwanted attention of large monsters hiding inside each set. If you manage to solve these mysteries and defeat enemies, you unlock new challenges.

The kits themselves are well-designed Lego creations that reminded us of Stranger Things, with a combination of hipster and light horror. The addition of the smartphone play does mean that even the smaller kits that are built quite quickly still have considerable interaction value, beyond the usual imaginative play.

Our examiner, Jo Robertson, first checked Lego Hidden Side 3 years ago. It was re-examined by Andy Robertson and updated 4 days ago.