Since LEGO Star Wars first landed on consoles in 2005, it has been eminently obvious to those of us with exceedingly good taste that the LEGO games are better than they have any right to be.
After twenty years of following a rather formulaic approach, developer Traveller's Tales has reached new heights, breaking out into a full-fledged open world behemoth, and it's perhaps the best we've ever seen from them.
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is like a greatest hits compilation of iconic Batman moments, translated into TT's iconic, light-hearted style.
The talented Shai Matheson leads the line with an excellent performance as Bats, superbly bouncing off an equally talented supporting cast, each of whom giving their all to re-enact some of the series' most iconic roles.
We open with Bruce Wayne training under Ra's al Ghul à la Nolan's Batman Begins, before moving on to taking down Danny DeVito's Penguin and meeting Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman.
The fan favourite incarnation of each of these characters appears to have been hand-picked and smashed together into a mishmash of stories that, had this been a grittier Batman game, probably wouldn't have worked, but shines in its brick form.
The story plays out through linear levels that will be familiar to fans of previous LEGO titles.
You'll make your way through the level, beating up baddies and swapping between Batman and Gordon/Robin/Catwoman etc. to solve simple puzzles and uncover collectibles.
The trademark TT humour is all over this game, and childish as much as it is, it never gets old; this is a writing team that knows how to hit the mark when it comes to both written and physical comedy.
Trying to make Catwoman sexy despite her being a LEGO minifigure made me laugh every time, just as much as any meta joke about how everything is made of bricks.
It should be said that, while I do love a good Batman story, I wouldn't exactly call myself a fan, per-se – I've never read any of the comics, for a start – but it was always a hoot to see how different aspects of the source material were used.
They said that the best parodies come from those who truly love the original work, and that is true in spades in LEGO Batman, with the developer's love of the caped crusader shining through.
For anyone who considers themselves a true Batman fan, I genuinely think this game is a must-play, and is absolutely dripping with charm.
Now, onto the gameplay.
It's been said a million times already, but here it is again for good measure: LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is, for all intents and purposes, a spiritual successor to the Arkham games.
I was not at all surprised to see Rocksteady credited as co-developers in the credits, as this has their fingerprints all over it.
The combat is effectively a simplified version of the Arkham combat, reclaiming some of that depth by way of gadgets like Batarangs and a grappling hook.
Early on, it's great fun to blitz through a few enemies, and when you gel with a character's gadgets and combat style, things really do flow.
Unfortunately, nearer the end of the game, things do start to become a bit stale, with enemy encounters effectively becoming a matter of increasing the difficulty by way of more enemies rather than more complex encounters.
I had turned up the difficulty to add more of a challenge, but once I began feeling like enemies were mere damage sponges, I ended up turning the difficulty back down just to get through things a bit faster, and avoiding enemy encounters entirely in favour of stealth where I could.
Thankfully, I couldn't feel more differently about the boss battles, all of which are fantastic set pieces that use the game's mechanics to their best.
Again, they aren't particularly difficult, essentially boiling down to dodging a few attacks and then whacking them for a big chunk of damage, but the presentation – replete with the aforementioned LEGO levity – makes each one a treat.
Outside of the story levels, LEGO Batman drops you into an enormous open world Gotham.
Like the Arkham games, Gotham is filled to the brim with activities such as combat and traversal challenges, races, Riddler and Cluemaster puzzles and more.
Again, like the Arkham games, one could argue that there are too many of these, but that's only really an issue if you're planning on 100 per cent-ing the game.
For me, being able to drop in and solve a Riddler puzzle (can you tell I like puzzles?) as and when I see one was ideal, and I think this is a game best enjoyed without worrying about seeing literally everything on offer.
When I think about the open world fatigue that so many players are feeling these days, I think a major part of that is traversal. One major issue I had with Crimson Desert is that it offers up this huge world but the literal act of moving throughout it is dull and monotonous.
Making traversal fun is half the battle for an open world game, and LEGO Batman pulls this off with aplomb. Why would I want to fast travel when I can glide across rooftops or blast through the streets in the Batmobile?
I do think that Gotham could have done with being a touch tighter, reducing the number of activities in favour of fleshing them out a bit more.
I also found it frustrating how many times, during my exploration of Gotham, I found a puzzle/subway station/_____ was locked behind a particular character who is only met 7-8 hours into the game.
This may just be some kind of survivorship bias, only remembering the annoying times, but in those early hours I felt as if every other activity I tried to do was locked behind this wall.
Eventually, I started to just ignore points of interest and barrelling through the story, failing to return to the now-dauntingly long list of tasks left for me by the time I did unlock this character.
But while I may have my gripes with the combat and the open world design, these are fairly minor among what is an otherwise excellent game.
After nearly 15 hours seeing all that Gotham has to offer, I can't help but feel that this both a brilliant LEGO game and a brilliant Batman game.
LEGO fans will undoubtedly be playing this regardless – and so they should – but I pity any Batman fans avoiding this because it's a 'children's game'.
Despite its repeated commercial success, Traveller's Tales has not received near enough appreciation for how consistently high-quality their games are.
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is the culmination of two decades of stellar development from one of gaming's most underrated studios.
It's funny, it's witty, it's vast and engaging, full of love for the world of Batman and, above all else, it's so much fun. At the end of the day, isn't that what it's all about?
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight releases on 22 May 2026 for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
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