Sony's PlayStation is the market leader for video game consoles, a dominance built on the backs of violent stories like "The Last of Us" and "God of War."

But the company is learning that bloody epics about aging fathers can appeal to only so many people. In its first partnership with Lego, PlayStation now targets the family-friendly, all-ages audience that's vital for long-term entertainment enterprises like Disney and Nintendo. "Lego Horizon Adventures" retells the origins of the closest character Sony has to a Disney princess, Aloy. She's a woman who uses sticks and arrows to fight robotic dinosaurs across a man-made American apocalypse. Her 2017 debut title, "Horizon Zero Dawn," has since sold 24 million copies, with the sequel selling more than 8 million one year after its 2022 release.

Releasing Nov. 14, "Lego Horizon" introduces Aloy to a potentially new audience, especially as the game is PlayStation's first non-sports title releasing on a competitor console, the Nintendo Switch.

"It's re-spun in a Lego lens in a way that has just as much heart, but also a bit sillier, more accessible, it can be something that a 10-year-old can experience," said Kate Bryant, product lead of branded games at Lego. "Not only appropriate as in it's not too spooky or violent ... Aloy can speak to that wide audience because she has that strength of character that can resonate with a younger audience."

Nourishing a younger, untapped audience helps franchises become multigenerational properties, much like how last year's "Super Mario Bros. Movie" became a $1.4 billion box office hit by appealing not just to children, but also adults who grew up with the characters.

But there's also urgency in expanding audiences. Big-budget video games today face an existential crisis thanks to soaring production costs that now rival or eclipse Hollywood films. Studios that hope to keep the lights on can no longer settle for selling a few million copies of a game that cost hundreds of millions of dollars to produce. Former PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan told The Washington Post in 2020 that PlayStation was pushing to make its intellectual properties "work a bit harder as an acquisition tool for PlayStation." Since then, "The Last of Us" became an Emmy-winning HBO show.

Netflix recently canceled plans for a Horizon TV show, but the Netherlands-based studio Guerrilla Games remains committed to the franchise, spinning up various projects including a 2023 virtual reality game and a secretive multiplayer project reportedly in the works.

In Horizon, Aloy's mysterious connection to the modern world of today gives her responsibility for solving the crisis of tomorrow, as the United States is overrun with sentient, robotic dinosaurs. It's a post-racial society with tribes created around misguided notions and beliefs of how humans lived in our current day.

Guerrilla's first franchise, "Killzone," was a dark, violent world that evoked real-world totalitarian imagery. The studio doesn't hesitate to declare its preference for the vibrant world of Horizon, which also features a diverse cast.

"We were done with it as a team. As a studio, we needed to refresh the palette. It was, by choice, the opposite of 'Killzone,'" said art director Roy Postma, who has worked at Guerrilla since 2000. "I think the themes that this story and the characters represent are relatable for all ages and people, like having a found family of friends and finding your place in the world."

For years, Lego worked with PlayStation to produce a brick version of the Tallneck, a Horizon robot that moves like a brontosaurus with a flat satellite dish as its head. The toy released in 2022 as a promotion for "Horizon Forbidden West."

"It was one of the first ventures we really had on with the bricks side of business looking at games and gaming IP," Bryant said. "There was a lot of excitement internally at Lego about that, and certainly within the game team. We were all fans of Horizon. So we had a direct conversation with Guerrilla where we came to the table and said, 'Hey, this looks really cool, but you know what would be even cooler?' We fully expected for them to go, 'Yeah, that would be cool' and nothing would come of it, but they matched our enthusiasm."

Guerrilla developed the game with Britain-based Studio Gobo, which prides itself in co-development work. It's helped with large projects like last year's best-selling "Hogwarts Legacy" game from Warner Bros., as well as numerous Disney games.

"We came from making smaller games and games for children," said Toño Gonzalez, lead game designer at Studio Gobo, who added that Guerrilla Games is their largest client yet. "They bring so much knowledge on how to make something larger than life."

Guerrilla Games, on the other hand, learned to loosen up a little. Aloy's world is radiant, but it's still a postapocalypse wasteland full of tribal warfare. The "real" Aloy is a stoic, mission-oriented woman, while Lego Aloy will run a hot dog stand.

"Making people laugh when they play the game, that was new for us," Postma said.