Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight review: Bricks of nostalgia

It’s been an incredibly long time since we had a proper bona fide Arkham title. Leave it to TT Games, which returns spectacularly with its latest flagship release. Kyusai’s Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight review goes over exactly what makes the newest instalment in the long-running comic book action-puzzler franchise one of its best, and the areas where it falls short along the way.

An interlocking narrative

From the promotional material, you may believe that Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is just a stylized and (sometimes) sanitised kid-friendly retelling of many of the Caped Crusader’s previous outings. While that’s true in part, sure, TT Games does something far more interesting here. Instead, it weaves an original (if formulaic) story that combines elements from The Dark Knight’s many movie, television, and comic book appearances, keeping everything in a flow state.

Essentially, it’s the greatest hits of Batman. That means keen and ample representation from the likes of The Dark Knight, The Batman, Batman Begins, and dozens of other outings that serve the central narrative. Key to this is the evolution of The Joker throughout the adventure; we see his transformation and different incarnations of the character, such as Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger (thankfully, no Jared Leto this time), as you traverse each linear set of levels. It’s not just a wink and a nod either. Entire iconic scenes are recreated in cutscenes and throughout gameplay, such as The Penguin’s car chase and flipping Joker’s truck.

In total, the narrative is divided into six distinct chapters (including a prologue), which will take you anywhere from 10 to 15 hours to complete on your first time through, depending on how thorough you are. The pacing is a little stop-and-start; the first three or so hours fly by, and then there’s some drag when some of the 22 missions can feel a little tedious. It’s always entertaining, but the game performs its best when you ignore the open world set dressing and stick to the critical path.

Rebuilding the Batman

One thing that’s immediately apparent about Lego Batman: The Legacy of the Dark Knight gameplay is how it borrows from Rocksteady’s Arkhamverse; this feels like a kid-friendly new entry into that storied saga, complete with a fully explorable open world you can glide and zip through, as well as a return of the flowing, counter-heavy combat that was pioneered almost two decades ago. Later on, you’ll be jumping over shields, using gadgets such as the Bat Claw and Explosive Gel, as well as distinctive puzzle-solving to get through levels, just as you would in Asylum, City, and Knight.

That isn’t to say that Lego Batman: The Legacy of the Dark Knight doesn’t have its own tricks to play. TT Games has smartly innovated with a less-is-more approach here. Aside from Bruce Wayne himself, there are only six other playable characters (all designed around drop-in co-op), with Jim Gordon, Catwoman, Robin, Batgirl, Nightwing, and Talia al Ghul accompanying the Caped Crusader. Instead of a laundry list of functionally identical mini-figures, each character feels distinct thanks to their abilities. For example, Gordon features a foam gun to gum up machinery, Batgirl can hack terminals, and Robin/Nightwing can use the line launcher.

This newfound freedom allows TT Games to craft an open-world Batman game that isn’t beholden to the typical Lego formula, as we saw in recent entries like Lego Horizon Adventures, which played it too safe. It’s not a reductionist statement to claim that Legacy of the Dark Knight feels like an Arkham game but with a few of its harsher edges rounded out. I recommend playing on the hardest difficulty (The Dark Knight), which spawns more enemies and gives you only a handful of lives to use in each mission, as you’ll be more actively engaged when playing.

Some of the same old bricks

With a remarkable presentation backed by Unreal Engine 5 and refined gameplay, Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight impresses across the board, but it’s let down by some antiquated design that holds it back from greatness. For as enjoyable as it is to fly across the city (or drive around in a range of different, recognizable vehicles), the actual open-world trappings feel incredibly dated. Early on, you bump into not only The Riddler but also The Cluemaster, so there are two sets of near-identical puzzle rooms scattered around to keep you busy.

A different core mission sees Batman and Catwoman place a tracker on a runaway polar bear, and wouldn’t you know it? There are dozens of other animals to run around Gotham for with arbitrary fetch quests as busy work. Poison Ivy from Batman & Robin gets her day in the sun, too. A level sees the Dynamic Duo save Kite Man from a carnivorous plant. Upon completion of said mission, Alfred explains that there are many other plants just like it, each needing to be pruned throughout the city. That’s to say nothing of the random crimes to stop, and the collectibles throughout each of the 22 actual missions as well.

In typical Lego game fashion, it’s all about collecting. It may be studs (that can be used to purchase vehicles, outfits, and props), or maybe it’s the red brick modifiers found in each level, or a distinctive piece in the set that (when five are collected), becomes a permanent unlock for The Bat Cave. What I’m getting at here is the game can be as familiar and open-ended as you remember, while also innovating in the more important gameplay department as well; newcomers won’t be alienated, and old fans will see it’s more than just a lick of paint in the same tired routine.

Let’s put a smile on the face

My complaints with Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight are ultimately incredibly minor. This is, without question, among the best Lego games on the market, and one of the more enjoyable post-Arkham Knight Batman games as well. The clear love and understanding of the character was endearing, the game is consistently funny as well as surprising, and the core gameplay loop never stagnated or bored me throughout my 10-or-so hours spent completing the main narrative.

If you’re someone who enjoyed the four Arkham games, you’ll likely find a lot to love with Legacy of the Dark Knight. Similarly, if you’ve enjoyed any of Batman’s movies over the previous four decades, then you’ll be hooked here, too. Whether it’s Matt Berry’s hilarious impression of Tom Hardy’s Bane, the Taken-esque approach of Ra’s al Ghul, or that fantastic recreation of the Flugelheim Museum from Batman ’89, there’s so much here that it’s hard not to love.

You’ll notice that my Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight review is a little later than some other outlets. Warner Bros. didn’t provide a copy this time around, so it’s played on my own dime and time via PC. I have a high-end rig, and didn’t encounter many performance issues, but your mileage may vary. Check the system requirements before investing, and get it on Xbox Series X/S or PS5 if you’re unsure. My best advice is to go in as blind as you can; try to avoid the deluge of memes and cutscenes making the round on social media, too, and you’ll have a better experience that way.

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Aleksha McLoughlin

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