LEGO Hidden Side combines set building with AR mini-games

LEGO has announced several new sets from its upcoming ‘Hidden Side’ range. They combine traditional building with AR mini-games in some simple, and seemingly kinda fun, ways.

The idea is that you first build the set, scan it with a special Hidden Side app on your phone, then interact with, and complete challenges on, the set in the AR world. The first three sets are all Halloween-themed, so expect to see plenty of ghosts and creepy crawlies being brought to life on your phone screen.

Subscribe to Pocket Gamer on

The sets include the LEGO Hidden Side Graveyard Mystery (£24.99, 335 pieces), the Lego Hidden Side Paranormal Intercept Bus 3000 (£54.99, 689 pieces), and the Lego Hidden Side Newbury Haunted High School (£109.99, 1,474 pieces).

When playing on your phone, you’ll see everything from the first-person perspective of one of two selectable characters – either Jack or Parker. They’re both cautiously exploring the haunted town of Newbury while attempting to rid it of its many ghostly inhabitants.

You can help them out by finding specific points of interest on whichever set you’re playing with, then scanning them with your phone to release the ghosts. You’ll need to physically manipulate the highly-detailed set in order to find them all, so it’s a nice mix of real-world play and AR fun.

LEGO plans to continue adding to the app after launch, with new ghosts, challenges, and a focus on randomised gameplay scenarios attempting to keep things fresh.

The app that you’ll need to download in order to play will be available closer to launch over on both the App Store and Google Play. The LEGO Hidden Side range will release globally on August 1st. You can pre-order any of the sets now over on the official LEGO site. The sets themselves look fairly impressive and the simple, accessible use of AR sounds like another smart way to get kids interested in the tech.