Hey gaming enthusiasts! I'm Lewis and welcome to another XPN Gaming review!
Funko Fusion is an exhilarating new game from Funko, the beloved brand renowned for its Pop! vinyl figures. In this thrilling co-op third-person shooter, platforming, and adventure game, players can step into the shoes of a vast array of iconic Funko characters from different worlds. What makes this game truly unique is its ability to seamlessly fuse characters from various franchises, creating endless opportunities for crossovers. Picture Hot Fuzz in the world of Jaws, or The Walking Dead meeting Jurassic World—the possibilities are limitless!
Designed to offer Funko fans a fresh way to engage with their favourite characters, Funko Fusion goes beyond the usual crossover experience. Much like Lego Dimensions, it brings these worlds together without the need for a portal accessory, letting you dive into expansive virtual environments that are bigger and more interactive than ever before. It’s a playful evolution of the LEGO-style games, combined with the quirky charm that has made Funko a household name. With 10:10 Games behind the wheel, the game brings to life exactly what fans have been waiting for, creating a truly immersive experience—one where anything is possible, all within the familiar worlds of your favourite franchises.
Funko Fusion
Release Date: September 13th 2024
Expectations for Funko Fusion were high, I had been following this game for several years as a huge fan of the Funko brand itself and being able to explore it in ways I have never before was a dream come true, it was something unlike anything we have seen before. The trailer which I will add for the first reveal made the kid in me excited, seeing my favourite franchises hugely brought to life had me bouncing for joy, a game where I could explore, and mix different characters in different scenarios. Franchises that would otherwise never usually cross, creating something bigger and breaking the boundaries without all the need for microtransactions, again I will touch on this later.
But my expectations were high, and I have to admit, they were met exactly the way I was hoping they would. I have seen games before by Funko such as Gears Pop! Which was fun while it lasted being a mobile game, this was the first time anyone made anything of this scale. So, when it came to the fans and what they wanted the expectation was higher than a lot of games and I can imagine the pressure that put developer/publisher 10:10 Games under. Let’s POP! in and check it out! Just to add to the fun I have hidden easter eggs in this review, can you find them all? Put them in the comments below!
Where Fantasy and Fun Come to Life!
Funko Fusion embarks players on an action-adventure journey to thwart the malevolent Eddy Funko, don’t get this mixed up with Freddy Funko (beloved mascot of Funko). Eddy is here to cause issues and disrupt the harmony of the WonderWorlds—a series of realms inspired by pop culture franchises. Now it is down to the players to restore balance, traverse these remarkable worlds and explore each unique universe in somewhat a partially free-roam style, engaging with missions, combat and puzzles. Throughout each world, you must fix the mistakes and damages of Eddy and put the worlds back to their normal selves. Defeating Eddy and saving the WonderWorlds permanently!
A Whole New World
When exploring a game of this scale the setting expands far beyond a single world. We have the main hub serving as a gateway to the WonderWorlds, each offering vastly different environments. Jurassic World transports players to the Island of Isla Nublar, the dinosaur-filled tropical paradise filled with attractions, gift shops and the ever-present danger of a man-eating Mosasaurus. In contrast, Hot Fuzz is set in a seemingly peaceful countryside village, hiding a much darker reality beneath its quiet exterior. While the game includes secrets and hidden lore elements, it doesn’t delve as deeply into storytelling as traditional lore-heavy games. However, what truly makes the world feel alive is the attention to detail in each environment. The developers at 10:10 Games have faithfully recreated these iconic locations we all adore and love capturing the very essence of the films, games, and TV shows. Even the doorway to a new location is different from the last, something Funko Fusion is perfect for, there is a place for every type of pop cultural fan.
You're Going to Need a Bigger Boat!
In Funko Fusion, the characters are all drawn from a variety of well-known iconic franchises, each bringing their charm and personality to the experience. Rather than following a single protagonist, every world features its lead characters, allowing you to step into the shoes of several playable heroes and villains across the iconic campaign. This structure makes the game a more exploration-driven adventure, where the excitement comes from embodying beloved pop figures rather than watching a single character grow throughout. The game however still delivers its loyalty to the strong sense of character presence. The heroes and villains stay true to their original personalities, making them instantly recognisable to their fans. Their interactions, dialogue, and mannerisms reflect the source material perfectly.
Gameplay
I'm Your Friend Till The End
The core mechanics for Funko Fusion revolve around third-person action, with a strong emphasis on shooting, The controls are intuitive and easy to pick up, making combat and exploration feel smooth from the start. If you’re familiar with third-person shooters, you will feel right at home, though each character comes with different weapons and unique power-ups/special moves to keep things fresh. Combat is fast-paced, sometimes bordering on chaos, as enemies spawn aggressively and won’t go easy on you. While it isn’t overwhelmingly difficult, the challenge is definitely there. You have the option to engage at range with firearms or get up close with melee attacks, depending on how you prefer to play.
Puzzles add another layer of gameplay, though they can be a mixed pick and mix. Most involve finding and repairing objects— such as retrieving a battery to power up a door or device—but locating the required items can sometimes be tricky. Timed puzzles are more where things get frustrating, especially if you’re unsure where to look. While nothing is excessively difficult, some puzzles can feel like a test of patience rather than skill, especially when navigating a world with secrets and distractions.
Platforming is one of Funko Fusion's Thanks to the third-person perspective, it’s easy to scout hidden areas and navigate the environment. Special items, like buildable trampolines, help you reach higher platforms quickly, making traversal smooth and engaging. A standout mechanic is Vinyl, a colourful, slime-like resource dropped by enemies or found in destructible objects and chests. This serves as the in-game currency, used for upgrades, constructing objects, and unlocking better chests that contain collectable crowns. It adds an extra layer of motivation to explore and destroy environmental elements, keeping gameplay dynamic beyond just combat and platforming.
Goodbye Benni
The difficulty in Funko Fusion strikes a balance of being accessible whilst also providing a fun yet reasonable challenge. It doesn’t feel like an unfair advantage nothing like a soulslike, but it steals demands some attention when it comes to reflexes, particularly during boss fights. Funko Fusion offers a set difficulty that remains the same for all players, as there are no selectable difficulty settings. This means that everyone experiences the game in the same way, without the option to adjust for a more casual or hardcore experience. The difficulty curves itself towards a challenging side, especially in combat situations, enemies will spawn quite frequently keeping you on your toes. While the game isn’t unfair some encounters can feel somewhat overwhelming. However, since every character has their unique abilities, you still have some flexibility when approaching battles. Puzzles difficulty is varied, some are simple to solve, and some can take more time and effort to complete. But sometimes having that challenge makes it all worth more and you can always return later in free-play.
Haven't You Ever Taken a Shortcut Before?
When you play a lot of third-person action games there always seems to be a skill tree or skill-styled progression system, Funko Fusion doesn’t feature this levelling system, but progression comes in different forms of things like character abilities, upgrades and unlockable characters. In this game, exploration is key and collecting Vinyl is highly recommended to be able to buy upgrades etc. In each level, you will have to collect seven crowns, three different collectable items that help unlock a new special character plus so much more! This game will have you exploring for hours.
We Take Pete's Car, We Drive Over to Mum's, We Go in, Take Care of Philip, Then We Grab Mum, We Go Over to Liz's Place, Hole Up, Have a Cup of Tea and Wait for This Whole Thing to Blow Over.
For a game as packed with content as Funko Fusion, the completion time can vary depending on how much you explore. Some players may finish the main campaign in around 40 hours, while others, like me, can easily surpass 50 hours by searching for secrets, collectables, and hidden areas.
The sheer variety of locations ensures that there’s always something new to discover, keeping the experience fresh even after dozens of hours. You can also find secret mystery doors that once opened give you access to a new world. Also with the addition of DLC, such as The Office, there’s even more to explore beyond the base game, making it a title that rewards players who love uncovering every last detail.
On top of that, Funko Fusion now supports co-op, a feature introduced back in November. Teaming up with a friend adds even more replayability, making the adventure feel even more dynamic. Whether you're diving back in to explore new worlds, unlock every character, or just enjoy the chaos with a friend, this game has plenty to keep you entertained for hours on end.
Graphics and Visual Design
I'm Gonna Kill You. Not Today, Not Tomorrow. But I'm Gonna Kill You.
Now we get into the beauty of the game, the visuals of Funko Fusion are phenomenal using a realistic look for the Funko Pop and bringing a stylised, cartoonish aesthetic, perfectly adding to the adventurous tone of the game. Its vibrant colours, and detailed character designs, make you seriously think about picking up one of your Pop Funko’s and seeing if it has the same level of detail. Given this game pulls from different varieties from horror franchises to even comedies the art direction captures every moment including the large heads Funko are known for.
PARKOUR!
Funko Fusion features several standout visual moments especially when it comes to the cinematic moments, this can be anything from a recreation from say Hot Fuzz or when the dinosaurs escape from their enclosures in Jurassic World but with a hint of a change by adding Eddy to be behind this being more aggressive or taking shape of a certain boss. Honestly, the idea behind some of the noticeable scenes from franchises made this so much more enjoyable!
Sound and Music
I Have the Power!
In Funko Fusion, sound effects are a core element that enhances the overall experience, providing weight and impact to every action. The sounds of shots being fired, every punch or hit has a sharp yet satisfying effect. Environmental interactions are supported by subtle yet effective sound effects also. Whether it’s the sound of footsteps on different surfaces, objects being manipulated, or the subtle hum of nearby machinery, these details help to create a more immersive atmosphere.
Did You Miss Me, Andy? I Sure Missed You!
Funko Fusion similar to the old Lego games using brief noises to interact there is no voice acting present in this game, personally seeing how many iconic franchises are in this game it would have cost 10:10 Games more money for the voice acting so I can understand why they went down this route instead.
No Matter How Hard We Try to Avoid it, There Will Always Be Forces in this World That Wish to Cause Us Harm.
One of the standout features of Funko Fusion is its impressive selection of licensed music. The game boasts a huge collection of iconic tracks, many of which are instantly recognisable and perfectly chosen to complement the game's tone. What truly elevates the experience, however, are the inventive remakes of these classic tunes. These reimagined versions add a fresh spin while still maintaining the essence of the originals, and they had me grinning from ear to ear as I explored. The seamless integration of these familiar melodies not only enhances the atmosphere but also brings a sense of nostalgia, making it one of the most enjoyable aspects of the game.
User Experience and Accessibility
Gimme All You Got Kit!
One thing that really annoys me in games is a cumbersome interface—when there’s too much on the screen, it’s enough to drive me mad. Thankfully, Funko Fusion avoids this pitfall. The interface is clean and streamlined, with your health, stamina, collected vinyl, and crowns all neatly organised in three sections. Beyond that, there’s minimal distraction, allowing you to focus fully on the action without feeling overwhelmed by unnecessary clutter.
I Want to Play a Game
Funko Fusion is very accessible allowing everyone to enjoy playing, with options including aim assist for those who struggle with shooting, colour blind mode and strength. There is even an Arachnophobia mode just in case you have a fear of the creepy crawlies, you can even change how the subtitle's size, colour, border and background look to make it easier to read.
Innovation and Comparisons
Welcome to Jurassic Park!
Funko Fusion is one of the first games to let you mix and match characters from a vast array of different franchises. It gives you the chance to bring your favourite characters into entirely new worlds, creating crossovers that you’d never expect to see in reality. It's a playground for the most bizarre, yet thrilling, mashups in gaming history.
When Funko Fusion launched, there was also a special collection of Funko Pop! figures released alongside it. These weren't just your typical collectables—each figure came with a code that could be used to unlock the character as a playable character in the game. While I personally haven't purchased any of these Funko Fusion POP figures, it’s a unique and exciting feature that allows players to bring their physical Funko Pops into the virtual world for a truly interactive experience. This is not something you need, it is just an option for those who want to bring the figures they own into the game, I would have loved to be able to do this with other pops I owned but who knows what the future holds?
Finger Licking Good!
The only game I can compare Funko Fusion to is the Lego series, specifically Lego Dimensions. However, the key difference is that Lego Dimensions required players to purchase a starter pack, which included a USB Toy Pad (similar to what you saw with Disney Infinity and Skylanders) along with the game. The game featured two main modes—story mode and adventure worlds.
In contrast, Funko Fusion does have DLC, but with Lego Dimensions, you had to buy each additional pack, which quickly added up—there were a total of 17 unique packs. These included level packs, which came with a character, vehicle, gadget, and an in-game level, as well as team packs, which included two characters and two vehicles. You can imagine how costly it all became.
I really appreciate how Funko Fusion avoids this approach. I never felt pressured to buy extra packs to enjoy the game. With the amount of content available in the base game, I felt completely spoiled, and I respect 10:10 Games for offering such a rich experience without the need for constant purchases.
Final Thoughts
Strengths
Funko Fusion brings the chaotic crossovers allowing players to explore worlds with characters like Rick Grimes, and Invincible in worlds you would never see them in was amazing! Seeing this brought to life where you could take any character into any world and just enjoy yourself of course having a fully open world would have been cool, but this is something that made it noticeable for me. The multiplayer lobby allows you to bring your friends on the journey so being able to play the game again with a friend was cool, and being able to do this with up to 4 players meant everyone could join in! The game is full of surprises and nods to so many franchises, the secret levels brought one of my all-time favourites FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDYS and they created a masterpiece that made me nervous and excited at the same time.
Weaknesses
I had to think hard about this and honestly, I struggled to find a lot wrong with Funko Fusion, I would have preferred a more open world instead of the semi-open world and maybe some voice acting even if it was pulled from the source material, but I thoroughly enjoyed the game from start to finish.
Hello? Hello? Hey! Hey, Wow Day 4. I Knew You Could Do It.
Funko Fusion was a game I was nervous would struggle to find its feet when it was first announced, seeing how a game as big as Funko Fusion sometimes get cancelled halfway through development I had fears I would never see it become a reality. I followed this game for so long. Being able to play a game with so much content is rare nowadays or stuck behind a paywall but I take my hat off to 10:10 Games and truly the team knocked it out of the park. If you are into third-person games or even the Lego games, then you need to check this out ASAP and like Arthur at 10:10 Games told me at EGX 2024 Funko Fusion “When Lego games grow up”.
Thank you to everyone who took time out of their day to take a moment to read this review, your support is always appreciated and means the world to me!
So, from all of us and myself thank you! Oh, and guys before you go always remember to… KEEP GAMING!
(Thank you to Arthur and the developers at 10:10 Games for providing a code for this review)
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