This Is THE Batman Game for Batman Fans, but There’s a Catch

It’s been a while since TT released a new Lego game. After dipping their toes back into Star Wars a couple years ago with Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, they’re back with a new game that encompasses an another entire franchise (or legacy) – Batman.

Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is the latest installment in the long-running Lego Batman franchise, but this time it’s much bigger. Taking cues from The Skywalker Saga, Legacy of the Dark Knight brings together several Batman stories, heroes, villains, weapons, vehicles, and costumes from all across DC media, going all the way back to the Golden Age. It’s quite an undertaking, and one that seems to have hit the mark, at least based on what I could tell from my hands-on preview last month.

Legacy of the Dark Knight Truly Has All Batman Stories

There are six chapters in the game; some longer, some shorter. It begins with Bruce Wayne’s early years as Batman and progresses throughout his career. It’s unclear how far we see him go as Batman, but there’s clearly a trajectory of Bruce becoming Batman, forming the Bat Family, and taking on key members of his rogue’s gallery – namely Joker, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, and even Mr. Freeze (who’s a little Arnie-esque).

In our session, we played through parts of chapters 1-3. Batman’s early career (and even his training that we glimpsed in a video presentation) is heavily modeled after Batman Begins. It’s the most recognized Batman origin story on-screen and the simplicity of it translates well into video game form. Later in the game, Batman’s story becomes more like Batman Returns, with some Batman Forever mixed in. Of course, there’s a lot of inspiration from the comics, particularly from the more campy Silver Age.

The point of Legacy of the Dark Knight is not to adapt one story but instead to capture the essence of Batman across his storied existence. And we see this applied to virtually all the characters, not just Batman. But because this is a Lego game, not everything from Batman’s mythos can be adapted one-to-one. It wouldn’t work for a family-friendly title. For instance, Dick Grayson’s origin story as Robin is tame compared to reality – or, the comics reality. His parents don’t die; instead he screws up at the circus and decides to quit. Then he tags along with Bruce to the Batcave and becomes Batman’s trusty sidekick.

Truly, the story in Legacy of the Dark Knight is fun. Lego games usually are, but this one is especially captivating as a DC fan. If you’ve consumed most of Batman media over the past few decades – at least the popular stuff – you’ll find yourself enjoying the experience of reliving those key moments in Lego form. Some deep cut lines will make you chuckle as well.

Arkham Definitely Inspired Lego Batman’s Combat

If Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy serves as the core inspiration for Legacy of the Dark Knight‘s story, aesthetic, and general vibe, as far as what’s been shown to us, then it makes sense for Rocksteady’s Arkham trilogy to be the main inspiration for the gameplay. There have been modifications made to the combat style, but at the heart of it, what’s in Lego Batman is a neat replication of the simple attack, dodge, parry combo that began with Arkham Asylum. Needless to say, though, stealth has been considerably downplayed in this game – but the rest of Arkham‘s combat system is there. And it’s well done.

The most annoying part is that it’s slow. If you recognize the combat system and are used to fighting quickly, you’ll be equally as annoyed as I was. At least from time to time. Mostly, it’s fine. It’s serviceable and it works for a Lego game; however, when you’re fending off a dozen henchmen at once, some with riot shields that you have to parry or jump over, the slowness becomes irritating. Again, it’s not bad. It works and it doesn’t detract from the overall game, but it is… slow.

Likewise, boss fights leave much to be desired. It’s a simple case of hit, dodge, hit, dodge, rinse and repeat. Now, the only boss I fought in my session was Poison Ivy, which involved a lot of area-of-effect attacks. It was easy, and nothing surprising. What I wish I did was up the difficulty, because yes, you can do that. You don’t have to play on a standard difficulty anymore, but rather can go up to a higher tiered Dark Knight level. Don’t expect Lego Batman to turn into a Soulslike, but you may actually die every now and then. In my group, only one person remembered to do this, and he felt it was actually more challenging. Again, nothing too crazy, but a worthy increase in difficulty.

Batcave, Batsuits, and Batmobile

There are three core tenets that make up a Batman adaptation: the Batsuit, Batmobile, and Batcave. It’s what all adaptations are judged on, among other things. If Legacy of the Dark Knight released today with what I saw in this demo, I’d be quite happy. There’s a hundred different suits you can use for Batman, Robin, and other characters. On top of that, players can unlock modifications – and power ups, essentially – for each suit that also comes with different color schemes. It means that you can change your costume every 15 minutes and probably get through the entire game without ever repeating a suit. Now, you’ll still need to unlock each one first, though.

Similarly, there’s several Batmobiles to use from virtually all prior Batman movies and TV shows, including mostly recently The Batman. They all roughly serve the same purpose, but I preferred to use The Batman‘s Batmobile, mainly for its boost, which came in handy during a timed trial I tested on the streets of Gotham. And if you’re sick of being in Gotham, you can spend a lot of time perusing the Batcave. In it, players will find all of their suits and vehicles on display. We didn’t have everything unlocked so it’s difficult to say what else is in the Batcave, but in one room I discovered three platforms, each with their own customizable Bat logo. I’m not sure what each platform is used for, but it must be for something big. Perhaps for aerial vehicles?

On top of all this, there’s perhaps one more core tenet for a Batman adaptation: Gotham. The version in Legacy of the Dark Knight is expansive, spanning multiple islands and then the Tricorner that can be unlocked throughout the game. And throughout the map, players will find dozens upon dozens of mini-games, puzzles, and even crime fighting opportunities. To be more specific, there are Riddler riddles a la Arkham Knight all throughout the map, owls from the Court of Owls on rooftops that you have to destroy, and wanted posters for various characters that you have to investigate. It’s the most impressive open world I’ve seen in a Lego game thus far and it does Batman justice.

The Issue With Lego Batman Right Now

Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is shaping up to be quite the game. It’s certainly made by generations of DC and Batman fans. Having said that, the big hold up for me is co-op. Lego games are incredibly fun to play together, whether it be via couch co-op or online co-op. As the years have passed, some games have forgone local co-op altogether, but it’s rare for to see a game like this forego online co-op instead – and it’s on purpose.

“The whole point of the two-player [experience] at TT has been playing together – couch co-op. It’s part of our thing. It’s father and son, it’s friends together. The whole idea is that you can deliver that, but not in an online way. It’s kind of part of who we are at TT,” I was told during my preview session. Having no online co-op is part of TT Games’ identity because they want to emphasize the in-person experience. This would’ve been more acceptable had we been talking about one of their mid-2000s Lego games.

When you have online co-op in a game like Lego Horizon (albeit from a different studio) and multiple releases from Haze Light, such as Split Fiction, which allows you to play online co-op with just one purchase of the game, it’s a bit ridiculous to not even consider including it in a game like this… in 2026. If it couldn’t work because of various development issues, which of course plagued The Skywalker Saga, that’d be one thing. But to purposefully not to include it, because of studio philosophy, is shocking.

That’s not to say Legacy of the Dark Knight isn’t worth playing. Based on my two hours with the game, I can’t imagine any Batman fan (or any comic book fan, for that matter) not enjoying this title. It serves as both a game filled with references and deep cut easter eggs for veteran fans as well as an introduction to newcomers who aren’t familiar with Gotham and its heroes. We’ll have to see how the rest of the game shakes out when it releases on May 22nd.