I built my bear a castle in Lego Worlds, but that didn't make him love me

I'd like to tell you a story.

It starts with Lego Worlds, a PC game from TT Games and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Lego Worlds was announced last June as a Steam Early Access title, and that's where it remains today. It's a sandbox, Minecraft-esque title, in which you can build and explore and develop attachments to inanimate objects or other Lego figures that will never love you.

Lego Worlds is on display here at E3 2016, and I spent some time messing around in its goofy, blocky world. I skydived and I punched things. I wandered around caves. I participated in some casual deforestation in the name of paving roads, but I wasn't very good at that; my paths were blocky and uneven. I shamefully abandoned them and never looked back.

But neglect isn't the point of this story — quite the opposite, in fact, because it was then that I spotted the bear. "Bear," as I came to call him, was rolling around in the nearby grass. His shiny, plastic fur was black, and he looked very rideable. With a quick button tap, I clambered up on his flat back, and we were off.

Bear was very amicable, bowing to my each and every directional whim. This became especially clear as we approached an ocean; with no hesitation, Bear and I charged straight in. We reached dry land in less than a minute. He's a strong swimmer.

He was a much cooler companion than Horse

We'd spent such little time together, but I was totally smitten with Bear. He was a much cooler companion than Horse, a friend I'd met and then immediately abandoned after I realized how basic he was. Bear seemed into me, too. We'd crossed an ocean together. That kind of thing makes you close.

I decided to build Bear a castle to show him how much I liked him. I started by carefully laying a foundation of long, flat Lego bricks, stacking them higher and higher to create walls. These were big walls, strong walls, worthy of demonstrating my affection. When my outline was complete, I selected a few pre-selected towers from my menu and started carefully placing them around the perimeter for extra safety and visibility. It turns out this was a good idea, because it seemed that Bear had started to wander off. He must have gotten confused! He's more brawn than brains.

To make sure Bear would always know this was his home, I constructed a towering sign next to the castle. Painstakingly, I painted the letters "B-E-A-R" as large and bright as I could. It took some time because the controls were a little difficult to handle. Lego Worlds doesn't strike me as a game for making works of art. Still, I didn't complain. Bear didn't even have thumbs. How would he paint it himself?

Bear's castle was complete, but there was one big problem: Bear didn't seem to care. He rolled around in the grass. He wandered in the opposite direction of the castle's doors. Without Bear as my king, my castle was pointless.

Lego Worlds is probably one of those games where people would say, "it's what you make of it." I hope you find someone who appreciates you.