LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is a great experience overall, and will likely find a passionate audience among those who love this series, but it also won’t do much to convert people who simply don’t enjoy the silly simplicity of the genre. It is both a worthy exploration of Batman and a fantastically fun LEGO title that takes full advantage of how loaded that premise has become over the years.

Despite a somewhat incoherent story and a handful of technical shortcomings, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight manages to capture the spirit of Batman through endlessly charming, varied, and genuinely fun gameplay. Traveller's Tales has crafted a loving tribute to the Dark Knight's nearly ninety-year legacy, packed with references, personality, and attention to detail that fans are sure to appreciate.

It also might not be the game for everyone and is almost certainly geared towards a younger audience, but it’s nevertheless a good entry point for new generations to familiarize themselves with the Caped Crusader before moving on to more serious media.

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is the Batman game the medium has been waiting eleven years for. TT Games delivers it without betraying either the franchise or those coming from the Arkham series: the narrative holds through the credits, the mechanical system grows with the player, and every hour spent in Gotham returns something tangible. Stealth remains the package's structural weak point, and the PC port carries a technical debt that a studio with these ambitions shouldn't allow itself. Everything else is Batman done right: with respect for the source, without paralyzing reverence.

Quotation forthcoming.

There are a couple of Arkham games better than this, but also a couple that are worse.

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is not only probably the best LEGO game to date, but also a great game overall, regardless of whether you are specifically looking for a LEGO experience or not. And, most importantly, it is without a doubt the best Batman game since the release of Arkham Knight.

In a larger sense, Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is fundamentally about time and the changes that come with it. It's been more than 20 years since Lego games hit it big with Lego Star Wars, and for a while, it felt like it had lost its way and become a whirring franchise-printing machine. Legacy of the Dark Knight rights the ship by getting back to fundamentals with deeper focus, razor-sharp writing, and just the right amount of mechanical complexity. For the first time in a long time, this is a return to form for the Lego series. It's still simple, but not quite as simple, it's bursting with even more secrets, and it's another playful take on a mythology that I love. It's the most fun I've had with a Lego game since 2005, and a template for how Lego games can rebuild into something greater, piece by piece.

LEGO Batman: The Legacy of the Dark Knight therefore perfectly achieves its goal: to serve as the culmination of everything great about Batman. It refines the gameplay of the Arkham series, packs in references to the best Batman films, and ties it all together within the playful LEGO universe. The title even affords itself the luxury of being fully playable in co-op and proves incredibly generous, featuring an open world brimming with content. This makes it the most ambitious LEGO game ever released—and perhaps even the best; dare we say it! However, this standard LEGO game formula also constitutes its biggest flaw, due to levels that are far too conventional, predictable, and repetitive—especially when playing solo. If you are a Batman fan—whether you plan to tackle the adventure in co-op or gift it to a child—it’s a resounding yes. But for those awaiting a true successor to the Batman Arkham games, this serves as a fun way to pass the time, though you’d be better off waiting to see what Rocksteady has in store for the future.

But these are small things to get annoyed about in a game that's filled with so many other small things that have been included just to make you laugh, or to surprise you, or to make you think back to a comic book story you haven't thought about in 30 years.

This is a really great game for all Batman fans. It can be a bit rough around the edges technically, and the gameplay is a bit too basic at times, but it’s hard not to appreciate just how much the developers love the Dark Knight in all his incarnations.