It pains me to say that it has been over a decade since Arkham Knight launched and we’re nonetheless ready for one more actually wonderful Batman sport to take up its mantle. After Bruce Wayne-adjacent disappointments in Gotham Knights and Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, it’s understable why so many have seen Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight’s counter-based fight and instantly pinned their hopes on the line drawn between it and Rocksteady’s phenomenal trilogy.
The comparability just isn’t unfair. After taking part in two-and-a-half hours at a latest preview occasion, it’s clear that Legacy of the Dark Knight is one thing of a “Food plan Arkham”. I say that very a lot as a praise; it’s acquired a equally detailed open world with dozens of distractions, enjoyable mission design, and strong fight – it’s simply all a lot lighter, each in tone and mechanics, than its greater, extra photorealistic brother.
The preview demo featured three missions from throughout Lego Batman’s early marketing campaign. The primary had me pummelling my manner via Penguin’s Iceberg Lounge in search of Carmine Falcone, a pursuit primarily based on a sequence from Matt Reeves’ extremely darkish The Batman, however reenvisioned with brightly colored ball pits, a QTE dance quantity, and a large mechanical fist that punches doorways off their hinges. Later, taking part in as The Boy Surprise himself, I balanced on tightropes and foiled Two-Face’s bombing try in a recreation of Batman Eternally’s introduction to Robin. Rounding out the demo, I beat up monstrous crops in a multi-stage boss combat with Poison Ivy, whose minifigure is predicated on Batman & Robin’s Uma Thurman.
Throughout all three I used to be in a position to see a stable spectrum of what Legacy of the Dark Knight is succesful of. My exploits in the Iceberg Lounge provided the finest proof that Lego Batman will present for these searching for Arkham thrills – its frequent brawl pits had me beating goon minifigures into the filth, with success virtually assured due to decade-old muscle reminiscence. It’s by no means any extra superior than Arkham’s baseline assault, dodge, and tap-to-counter system, with the Batarangs and grapple devices barely providing a deeper layer, however that core method is undeniably one of the biggest fight techniques we’ve ever had in video video games, and it’s good to get again to it, even on this comparatively primary type.
Whereas I totally anticipated the fisticuffs, I used to be shocked to find that Lego Batman efficiently tries its hand at Arkham’s predator-like stealth, too. When you don’t must crouch and maintain again in your velocity, as long as you keep out of (the generously slim) enemy imaginative and prescient cones, you possibly can get rid of complete rooms of enemies one-by-one, typically via the deployment of comedic takedowns, like giving them a noogie or hooking them as much as a floating balloon.
Whereas nothing I confronted in the Iceberg Lounge or past posed a lot of a problem, there are three issue choices, maxing out at “Dark Knight” stage, which turns off limitless lives and throws extra particular enemies into the combine, similar to towering bruisers or these armed with weapons and shields. Whereas I didn’t do that mode myself in the demo, it is the one I count on I’ll naturally gravitate to after I play the remaining launch – the name of Arkham, even a plastic echo of it, is difficult to disregard.
However it’s essential to recognise that Legacy of the Dark Knight is greater than only a shadow of Rocksteady’s big, although, and that’s the place the Haly’s Circus mission is available in. Enjoying as Robin throughout his remaining efficiency as half of The Flying Graysons, it’s predominantly a platforming stage. And whereas its array of zipwires and rotating soar factors are primary when in comparison with Mario’s finest gauntlets, it wasn’t the pushover that I anticipated. In its more difficult moments, the place timed jumps and transferring targets demand timing, I tripped up a pair of instances on account of overconfidence – there’s much less magnet-like snapping to safe you in place than you’d count on from what’s ostensibly a child’s sport.
The Poison Ivy boss combat swings the focus again to that slick fight system, however its a number of phases pull you in numerous instructions. As bloom-headed minifigures do their finest to distract you, Ivy herself is ready to sprout a spread of flora that each one demand completely different methods to keep away from, be that dodging exploding cacti, leaping over swinging vines, or yanking Ivy from atop a large plant through the use of your grappling hook. Once more, whereas this isn’t significantly difficult on the commonplace issue, it’s nonetheless absorbing due to the energetic tempo and fixed switching of assaults and applicable reactions. I count on this to be significantly enjoyable when performed in co-op, particularly alongside youngsters getting their first actual style of the Bat. Issues shift gears once more when Ivy summons her double-headed Snapdragon (presumably the remaining type of her snake-and-plant experiments from the film) and a brand new set of assault patterns should be prevented, together with leaping between big leaves as they dissolve in acid.
I’ll admit that I’m no Lego sport aficionado, and have spent little time with 2022’s Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, which noticed developer TT Video games push additional into “conventional” online game territory. However I can actually say that, throughout these missions, I used to be left with the sense that that is the best-feeling Lego sport I’ve personally performed. Up to now, it appears extra totally shaped and wider scoped than the bash-around enjoyable Lego IP video games of the early 2010s.
I believe the actual key to its success, although, shall be its open world. Legacy of the Dark Knight takes place in a beautiful rendition of Gotham Metropolis, which you’re free to prowl round between the principal missions. Once more, it owes no less than a minimal debt to Rocksteady’s interpretation – its structure, the manner you navigate via it, and basic moody environment evoke Arkham Knight – however the wider palette of influences means there’s an array of enjoyable billboards, outlets, and different factors of curiosity that evoke the art-deco Animated Collection and a lifetime of cinema visions. Collectively, they really feel cohesive, and create a really classic-feeling model of DC’s most essential metropolis.
Whereas the metropolis’s footprint seems small when in comparison with “grown up” open worlds, it’s generously peppered with actions and distractions. These, of course, embody Riddler trophies, in addition to their new sibling, the Cluemaster Puzzles, which, for instance, ask you to hunt out three objects primarily based on image hints. Different classically-styled choices embody traversal and fight trials, unlocking quick journey factors by fixing the SubWayne system, rescuing escaped zoo animals, and responding to the random crimes that happen throughout the metropolis’s many streets and alleyways — sure, this can be a Gotham with a bustling inhabitants of minifigure civilians, all able to be mugged by a supervillain’s henchman.
Whereas I poked round these acquainted choices, throughout my demo time I discovered myself extra eager about The Falcone Fortune, a series of aspect quests that sees you assist Catwoman break right into a collection of residences and rinse them of their valuables. Every property has a secure hidden behind a singular puzzle – you would possibly must piece collectively a key, spin statues into the right alignment, or ship an precise cat into small areas to retrieve objects. Once more, that is all comparatively simple stuff, however I like the use of Catwoman’s distinctive talents, from her glass-cutting claws to a splendidly tactile safecracking minigame, which makes the entire occasion really feel gleefully like cat housebreaking.
The actual spotlight of the open world, although, is bombing round Gotham in a single of the many Batmobiles. The driving in Lego Batman is surprisingly good. The dealing with is arcadey with out sacrificing weight. There’s a superb sense of heft as you swing these goth motors round corners, and thundering via visitors feels unbelievable – particularly whenever you hammer the throttle and have interaction that iconic afterburner. Racing time trials present a extra structured objective for Wayne’s wheels, however for me the pleasure was in reliving the Batman fantasy of responding to crimes at 100mph. That’s solely enhanced by the choice of bricky replicas, which in my demo included Tim Burton’s iconic 1989 land rocket, Nolan’s two-wheeled Batpod, the roaring muscle automobile of The Batman, and even the plastic monstrosity that Val Kilmer was saddled with in Batman Eternally.
Sure, Legacy of the Dark Knight may be very a lot equal alternatives relating to all flavours of the Caped Crusader (though I’ll be aware that the Batman & Robin go well with arrives with out nipples). It is this strategy, moderately than its co-opting of Arkham concepts, that I believe not solely defines it, however makes it value taking note of. By glueing collectively plastic recreations of the Dark Knight’s big-screen outings and re-telling them in a beautiful open world, TT Video games has created what seems to be an exquisite, joyful, and vital evolution of what Lego IP video games have all the time been – film tie-ins that permit our internal seven-year-olds (or, certainly, our precise seven-year-olds) re-live the cinematic magic. By constructing atop the achievements of Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, The Legacy of the Dark Knight seems to be a brand new remix of the plastic brick’s ambitions, and it’s that which finally proves extra fascinating than its Arkham overlap.
Matt Purslow is IGN’s Government Editor of Options.