Batman is a character that transcends media. From the pulp comics of the early 1940s to the silver screen exploits of actors like Christian Bale and Robert Pattinson, every generation has its favorite version of DC’s legendary Caped Crusader and his equally iconic rogues’ gallery. LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is but the fourth LEGO game centered around Gotham’s grim protector, but it is easily the most ambitious to date.
Its goal: take all those different versions of Batman across comics, cartoons, movies, and video games and click them together like bricks in a plastic building set.
Key Details
- Developer: TT Games (with assistance from WB Montreal and Rocksteady Games)
- Publisher: Warner Bros Games
- Platform: PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S
- Price: $69.99
- Review Code Provided: No
A Hero’s Journey
The game’s story follows Bruce Wayne’s journey to becoming Batman, from his early days training under the eye of Ra’s al Ghul to his battles against the likes of The Joker, Two-Face, Bane, and more. Along the way, he builds a small team of allies and makes a name for himself as a protector of Gotham City. There are plenty of funny in-jokes referencing Batman’s storied history, along with some humorous twists on the lore in true LEGO fashion.
Some big story highlights include Jack Napier’s evolution from the Red Hood to not one, but two major cinematic depictions of The Joker, Dick Grayson’s journey from Robin to Nightwing, and Catwoman’s complicated relationship with the titular Dark Knight. From the classic animated series to Batman: Arkham Asylum, chances are that your favorite Batman character and media are represented here, though some naturally get more of the spotlight than others.
Welcome To Gotham
When you first start the game, Legacy of the Dark Knight offers up three difficulty settings: Classic is the more traditional LEGO offering with fewer enemies and easier combat, Caped Crusader is a balance between combat and story, and Dark Knight gives you limited lives and more enemies for the ultimate challenge.
If you’ve played a LEGO game before, you’ll be familiar with the base controls. You move and look around with the joysticks, jump with the X Button, attack with Square, and build and interact with LEGO pieces with Triangle. As you smash and build objects, you are rewarded with LEGO Studs that can be spent to unlock new skins. As you collect studs, a multiplier meter fills up, which lets you earn even more points.
While on foot, players can also tiptoe across narrow beams, climb across ledges, crawl through tunnels, and interact with LEGO items like building snowmen or petting animals. By pressing the left or right directional buttons, Batman or one of his allies can switch between different gadgets, which can be used in combat or to get past a certain puzzle or obstacle. There are also various mini-games like safe-cracking, computer hacking, and evidence analysis, which are all fairly simple.
Once you get past the early levels, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight’s open-world version of Gotham will unlock. There are different sections of the city to explore, each with collectibles to find and mini-challenges to complete. Random crimes will break out, and Batman can choose to intervene for a large Stud reward. You always have a vehicle like the Batmobile on hand to drive to your next objective or just crash through some ill-placed LEGO structures. You speed up and slow down with the triggers, while steering with the directional stick. It controls much more easily than it did in Batman: Arkham Knight, too.
If you get too far from your vehicle, you can call it to you with the press of a directional button. After you clear a story chapter and activate the area’s corresponding Wayne checkpoint, you can use Fast Travel to get anywhere you have access, including the Batcave.
Let’s Get Nuts
Batman: Arkham series developers Rocksteady Games and WB Montreal helped TT Games with LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, and this is evident in the game’s new combat and stealth systems. While fighting enemies, the player pushes Square to strike, Circle to dodge, and Triangle to perform counter moves, all while stringing together combos. The final strike even plays in slow motion – just like in the Arkham games. And yes, it’s just as satisfying as ever.
As you land hits, you build up your Focus Meter to unleash devastating finishing attacks that can be activated with the Right Bumper. By throwing Batarangs at opponents, you can stun them and pummel them with a rapid-fire punch combination. Things are a bit more simplified than, say, Batman: Arkham Knight, but zipping around the battlefield and punching the plastic out of enemies is still fun.
Other beloved elements of the Arkham titles, like Detective Vision (which can be used to locate items of interest or track evidence trails), the grappling hook, gliding, and even stealth takedowns, are all present and accounted for in Legacy of the Dark Knight.
Building A Bat-Family
In a striking contrast to the massive rosters of past LEGO games, Legacy of the Dark Knight only has seven playable characters: Batman, Talia al Ghul, Jim Gordon, Catwoman, Robin, Batgirl, and Nightwing. Each character has their own special skills and equipment, such as Jim Gordon’s gear-jamming foam, Catwoman’s ability to summon cats to crawl through smaller vents, Robin’s Cable Gun, or Batgirl’s drone (which can be used as a makeshift grappling point).
The focus on a smaller cast of playable characters has already proven divisive, but most of the sidekicks are fun to play. The only real point of contention is that Nightwing and Robin are almost identical. While this makes sense given they’re the same person, it also makes their status as separate characters somewhat redundant.
There are two playable characters active at a time, with the second serving as Player 2 during co-op. By holding down the directional button, you can bring up a menu and swap out Batman’s current partner with any of the others you have unlocked at a given point. Batman, however, must be the first character for most of the game.
Where Does He Get Those Wonderful Toys?
In the Batcave, Batman or any other character can use his Workbench to upgrade their equipment, build new vehicles by spending Studs, track their progress in completing side challenges by way of the Challenge Board mural, and even decorate with custom items they can place all over Batman’s lair. You can also replay old levels with the Batcomputer (though keep in mind that you will have to play through them with the same characters you did the first time), or answer the occasional prank call from Bane (though this feels more like something The Joker would do.)
After you complete a level, you are rewarded with golden Skill Bricks for either clearing the stage or pulling off certain objectives. These Skill Bricks can be used to unlock Skill Upgrades, which boost the player’s Combat or Exploration skills and grant access to new attacks. There are also collectibles hidden throughout the levels, similar to the Mini-Kits of past LEGO games. If you collect them all, you’ll unlock a trophy model that can be displayed in the Batcave. Lastly, in each level, you can find a red Modifier Brick, which gives your costume or vehicle a different color scheme.
Speaking of costumes, you will unlock various alternate looks for Batman and company by playing through the story or completing side objectives. These costumes are taken directly from the many different Batman movies, shows, games, and more, and each comes with a humorous description detailing where it originated from.
I’m Not Wearing Hockey Pads
Graphically, Legacy of the Dark Knight is on par with LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, faithfully capturing the look of LEGO models down to the plastic seams and brand engravings on the minifigures. Gotham looks like it does in the Arkham games, combining the old-fashioned architecture of Tim Burton’s movies with some of the colorful neon of Joel Schumacher. It’s always raining, and the water drips off the minifigures perfectly.
There’s also a handy Photo Mode that, while not having as many features as those of other games, is great for catching images of Batman and crew in action to share with your friends (or putting in a game review).
The music features a fun mix of nostalgic movie themes from the likes of Danny Elfman and Elliot Goldenthal, and some new tracks that fit right along with those iconic tunes. There are even a few fun surprises that will make fans of the classic films smile and bob their heads. The voice acting is also solid across the board, with Shai Matheson’s Bruce Wayne growing increasingly gruff as he goes from naïve newcomer to the Caped Crusader and the rest of the cast turning in good performances.
Here’s a fun piece of trivia: Colin McFarlane, who voices Jim Gordon here, once played Gordon’s doomed predecessor, Commissioner Loeb, in The Dark Knight.
Final Score – 9/10
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight isn’t without its minor shortcomings, but it’s undoubtedly one of the best LEGO games in recent memory and a worthy celebration of one of comics’ greatest superheroes. There is plenty of humor and charm to be found in the game’s cutscenes, which do an amazing job of adapting and connecting the plot threads of multiple versions of Gotham’s brooding defender and his legendary cast of sidekicks and villains into a single action-packed narrative. It also works as a good starting point for younger players who might not be ready for the more intense Batman: Arkham games just yet.
TT Games is already planning on expanding the world of Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight with the upcoming Mayhem Collection DLC, which launches in September and will add a new Mayhem Mode. In it, players will be able to take control of The Joker and Harley Quinn in a brand-new story campaign.
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