When my partner and I, both enjoyers of video games and other nerdy exploits, made the decision to move in together, I was sure to express my immense aversion to owning and/or displaying any Funko Pop! figures. I’m not a monster though, so finding out they quite liked the gargantuan franchise of future landfill vinyl toys based on every possible brand in the world meant that I was willing to compromise. A year later, and with curiously more of them in the house than I initially remember, I think I’ve been worn down, and nothing is more evident of that than my excitement for Funko Fusion.
In case you’ve somehow missed it before now, Funko Fusion is to the world of Funko Pops what the Traveller’s Tales-developed LEGO games are to the Danish house of plastic bricks. It’s more than a loose comparison, too, with developer 10:10 Games’ founded by veterans of TT Games back in 2021. So the format is there – an action-adventure platformer set in recreations of beloved fictional worlds, rendered in the style of a highly marketable real-world toy empire – and so is the talent to both capture that same spark and also give it a fresh spin, backed by an immense new trove of IP.
Funko Fusion differs in a few key ways, though. For starters it’s set in a self-aware, overarching universe where Funko Pops are seemingly born in a Wonka-like facility that connects them to all the various universes of the IP they belong to. This means the game isn’t simply out to recreate established storylines from these licenses, like most of the LEGO games, but instead is telling its own (admittedly loose) story that takes players on a whirlwind tour of each world – think LEGO Dimensions without the added plastic, ironically. After being dropped straight in the game’s hub world and given the keys to two of the main universes, one based on Jurassic World and the other on Hot Fuzz, I’m honestly still a little murky on the exact details but the gist is that an evil version of Freddy Funko is attempting to take over the worlds and it’s up to players to travel through each one and put a stop to the invading forces.
Funko Fusion is also not shy about being a full-on third person action game with a much more “adult” focus than the LEGO titles. Guns are your primary weapon of choice in as many of the scenarios as I’ve seen, and there are healthy heapings of blood and plastic decapitations – not to mention the inherent mature nature of franchises like Child’s Play, Shaun of the Dead or Invincible. From the moment I stepped foot in the Jurassic World level and was tasked with killing, sorry, putting to sleep a bunch of rampaging dinos and what I can only assume are inter-dimensional ninjas, it became clear that this experience strikes a very different tone.
To my surprise, the gunplay and action actually feels quite good, too. The shooting is solid and satisfying, and each Funko character is equipped with a slightly different accompaniment of weaponry and moveset to keep things fresh. You can also find plenty of other guns and gadgets in chests around the place, with a particular favourite of mine being a gun that launches sticky, explosive ice-cream cones. You’ll also need to make good use of melee moves with certain enemies that are impervious to bullets or need to be worn down to a vulnerable state first, which helps to mix things up.
Shooting plastic baddies isn’t all the game is about though, and thankfully there’s quite a bit of substance to each of the worlds for those of us that love to explore, find secrets, solve puzzles and collect shitloads of stuff. Predictably, you’re encouraged to smack just about anything in sight to reduce it to vinyl, which makes for the game’s major currency, but there are plenty of hidden goals and other bits to collect in pursuit of fully completing each area. Just in my initial couple of hours with the game I spotted plenty of opportunities to return to puzzles or obstacles with tools gained in later worlds, adding incentive to keep coming back.
Unlike the LEGO games though, where this design was tied to specific characters and their abilities, Funko Fusion asks you to “mould” new gear unlocked via blueprints, that you can then produce at any relevant kiosks using your collected vinyl. Early on I had access to things like bounce pads to reach high spots and batteries to power doors and mechanisms, and it already feels like a pretty elegant way to incorporate the Funko theme into a flexible and rewarding system of progression.
While the Jurassic World level was quite action-heavy and had me exploring the fairly large park grounds, fighting angry dinosaurs and freeing captive ones, Hot Fuzz made for a pretty big change of pace that speaks to this game having a nice bit of range. Here, I gained the ability to mould a blacklight camera and used it to follow a police swan (brilliant) around the town of Sandford, checking out crime scenes and hacking into cameras to open gates, Watch Dogs-style. Any concern that the folks at 10:10 would simply throw me into new franchises and worlds and ask me to shoot things each time went away at this point, and I’m hoping that rings true once I get to explore even more of them in the full game. Both Jurassic World and Hot Fuzz had an impressive density of playable space too, with plenty of indoor areas to bust into and tantalising hidden goodies, just out of sight or reach, around every corner.
Of course, so much of the appeal of this game is going to come from the huge amount of IP within and the constant parodies, references and sly nods aimed squarely at fans. Naturally, there’s tons of it here and you can really get the sense that the team has spared no expense in filling every possible area and moment with gags based on each property. The worlds, especially Hot Fuzz’s, feel shockingly authentic and detailed in spite of all of their inhabitants being huge-headed plastic dolls, which is a feat in itself in my eyes. If you’re the kind of person that gets a kick out of pointing and exclaiming at the telly when you see something you recognise, you’re certainly going to have a sore arm at the end of this.
10:10 has seemingly done the smart thing here and really put the onus on players to direct their own fun, laying down what seem like fairly basic core objectives in each world that are there just to guide you to the next shiny Funko crown (used to unlock the gates to new worlds) and encouraging you to constantly stray in search of other gameplay. I’m hopeful that the variety and momentum keeps up over the duration, especially with how much stronger the Hot Fuzz level feels over Jurassic World. The coolest moment for me by far has just been making my way around the Wonder Well hub area and being able to look down through each floor with its own themed look and decor – after all, where else could you stand at the gates to Jurassic World while peering down into an English village and then yet another completely different world beyond that?
Based on just a few hours of play, Funko Fusion definitely seems like it has the right stuff to please a mix of gamers, whether you’re in it for the endless barrage of IP worship or the solid action and collectathon puzzle-platforming. If the thought of a Funko Pop! is enough to make you roll your eyes, I doubt it’s going to set them back straight, but so far I reckon it’s made of just the right bait to hook the crowd of millennial gamers it’s clearly angling for.
Funko Fusion launches on September 13th for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, with PS5 and Switch versions arriving in November. You can pre-order it here.
