Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight

Often, when games are announced, they immediately sound absolutely brilliant, based on a tantalising teaser and brief details highlighting the key points. Sooner or later, however, the hype tends to die down a bit once the developers reveal things that the community doesn't usually get excited about.

In the case of Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, however, there's been no such let-down; instead, it has somehow magically managed to ramp up the hype all the way from its announcement to the moment I've finally got the chance to enjoy the adventure. TT Games has been rapidly revealing more and more exciting features, and they've managed the feat of charming everyone, whether they're Lego fans, fans of the Batman films, those who just read the comics, or those who still dream of the Arkham trilogy.

In short, the game is packed with content, but like any other adventure, it begins with a single step, where we follow the young Bruce Wayne from being a beloved only child, to becoming an orphan after his parents are murdered, and of course eventually being trained to fight Gotham's worst villains and become Batman. This is, of course, nothing new, and to be honest I'm rather tired of origin stories, but here it serves as a sort of interactive introduction whilst also offering a taste of one of the recurring, slightly more unique elements in Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight.

It's a wild mix of inspiration from various source material and makes no attempt to follow a chronological order. The opening feels inspired by Nolan's beloved Batman trilogy (and includes a fair bit of Ra's al Ghul), but we also find elements from Tim Burton's films, and once in Gotham, there's clear inspiration from the Penguin TV series, before something appears that fans of The Batman will love. And amidst all this, we continue to unlock suits, gadgets and characters from every corner of the Batman universe, where not even I, who consider myself a Batman enthusiast, can honestly say I recognise everything.

As if that weren't enough, the game is generously sprinkled with other references that don't actually have anything to do with Batman - I won't spoil the fun for anyone, but I particularly enjoyed a very clever nod to American Psycho. Naturally, this sort of thing goes completely over the heads of the children, who are, after all, the main audience for Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight.

So before I get carried away and start telling you about all the times I've sat there pointing my finger at the TV like Leonardo DiCaprio in that ever-popular meme, let me make it clear straight away that Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is definitely aimed at younger gamers. The standard difficulty level is the lowest (of three), and I chose to play on the middle one and have also tried the hardest. Apart from the odd misstep and the like, I haven't died once in combat. I'm certainly not trying to say that I'm a top-tier power player, but rather that Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is a very easy game - so much so that I really recommend you, with average skills, to play on the highest difficulty setting. It's more fun, and is still quite easy. But that doesn't mean there's a lack of challenges; I'll get to that.

For anyone who's played TT Games' Lego games before, a lot of it will naturally feel familiar. The gameplay is the same, largely involving smashing everything with the X button and jumping with the A button. Then 'studs' (the in-game currency) fly across the screen, as almost everything can be smashed to pieces. If you collect enough studs in a short space of time, you get multipliers that give your money an extra boost. For me, at least, this became a sort of game within the game, making it more fun to collect studs and causing me to spend an unnecessary amount of time keeping multipliers active before picking up valuable items like blue or purple studs, for maximum results.

Aside from having one foot firmly planted in TT Games' classic Lego worlds, the other is just as firmly rooted in the Arkham universe. In many ways, this really is like an Arkham game reimagined in Lego. The combat works similarly, where you can take on hordes of enemies by jumping between them, performing counters, dodging projectile attacks and pulling off badass moves. The only negative I can think of is perhaps that the latter doesn't play a major role. Performing a series of combos to fill your focus meter and ultimately be able to attack more powerfully is, on paper, a good idea, but as mentioned, the enemies are so easy that it's not something worth striving for. I often find myself not even using the attacks when I have the chance.

Otherwise, it's a thoroughly delightful system, and here we even find features such as the ability to sneak up on enemies and swing up and down with a grappling hook, so that with a press of RB you can take out unsuspecting foes from above. You can also sneak up on opponents from behind or pull them down from ledges if you approach from below. Top this off with fairly varied boss fights, and you've got a really enjoyable gameplay loop.

Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is at its best if you have someone to play with. You can, of course, play through everything on your own, but there are several instances where you have to play co-op with yourself - for example, by taking one character to a location, switching to another character and heading to a different spot, and so on. It's not a problem, but these moments do slow the pace down a bit, and if there are two of you, the screen is split and you can assist each other in the best possible way.

The world is vast and open, yet divided into sections. You and any co-op partner must stay within the same area. These areas are, however, impressively large, and as I mentioned above, there are challenges beyond just combat. TT Games has taken a leaf out of Nintendo's book and included a vast array of collectables, many of which are notoriously hard to find. But it's often worth the effort to look, as a complete set of statues, playing cards, bonsai trees or whatever else it may be will give you extra bonuses, sometimes in the form of gadgets (to pimp your Batcave, if you're into that sort of thing) and sometimes in the form of one of several currencies.

There are also decent opportunities to customise your Batman (and his sidekicks) to your liking by using a workbench and a sort of experience point system to level up items and the characters. This gives it a bit of a Metroidvania feel, as you can suddenly access things you knew were there but didn't know how to reach. Little by little, you unlock more of the game world and you can, of course, go back to continue searching for things. There's also a fixed travel system, and it's always crystal clear where you need to go next. On top of this, you also have access to classic Batman vehicles, so getting around is quick and easy.

Apart from Batman himself, there are only a handful of other characters you can play as during the adventure. If you're playing with two players, player two will have to switch quite often, as several sections are designed for Batman and one other character, who then has the abilities you need in that particular spot. This makes it a rather unique game in TT Games' Lego range, as these titles have sometimes been known for featuring over 100 playable characters. Personally, I don't see this as a downside at all; rather, it provides a more cohesive narrative and a more clearly defined gameplay experience.

Before I reveal my rating, I'd like to take this opportunity to comment on the graphics and sound. These are, in fact, absolutely top-notch. During the review period, I've barely encountered a single bug, despite the fact that the day-one patch hasn't been released yet at the time of writing. It runs beautifully smoothly, the effects are well-crafted and the animations are top-notch. Climbing right up high and simply throwing yourself down to glide with Batman over Gotham with a magnificent view is actually just as cool in this Lego game as it was when Batman: Arkham City was released in 2011. I'd also like to highlight Simon Withenshaw's soundtrack, which is really well-written and significantly darker and more menacing than we've been used to from the Lego series previously. It really ties the presentation together and makes it feel like a somewhat unlikely Batman simulator.

So... the rating? There have actually been a couple of moments during the adventure where I've wondered whether I should award our absolute top rating (something I haven't done since 2021). Ultimately, the slightly too easy difficulty level and the somewhat unpolished combo system in the battles meant I couldn't quite justify it - but having said that, this is by far the best Lego game I've had the privilege of playing. There is such a vast amount to discover and unlock, and it has such excellent co-op support that I would highly recommend this to everyone.