TT Games' latest installment in its long-running LEGO series, 300 playable Star Wars characters. Multiple open hub worlds, travel between planets, and improved starfighter gameplay intimates the scale of the game best, but there are other areas in which it has made key changes to the classic LEGO game formula. It's unclear as of yet if these innovations go deep enough, but at the very least The Skywalker Saga looks to be every bit the celebration of Star Wars its trailers have sold it as.
In many ways, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga feels more like an action RPG/shooter hybrid than it does a traditional LEGO title. The camera has been mounted closer toward the player character, and blaster heroes can now take cover and shoot enemy Minifigures much the same way they would in a more traditional third-person shooter. Melee combat in LEGO Star Wars has also been revamped, with most characters able to chain combos together to disassemble like an unfortunately dropped LEGO set. Lightsaber gameplay looks faster and more kinetic than in LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga or The Clone Wars, while new and improved boss battles also appear to have added an extra wrinkle to the series' traditional formula. These mechanics don't look as deep as they otherwise might be in another non-LEGO AAA game, but this still represents the biggest departure in of gameplay the franchise has seen to date.
Screen Rant was recently invited to a special preview event for LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, in which TT Games showed off three story missions from the game, some open-world gameplay focused on the hub worlds of Tatooine and Coruscant, and some space exploration thrown in for good measure. The level of gameplay variety in LEGO Star Wars: Skywalker Saga looks impressive, and its scale also dwarfs that of previous LEGO titles. Even so, TT Games doesn't appear to have sacrificed attention to detail. There are classic gags and Easter eggs hidden across the game's levels, and Minifigures have more personality than ever before. The Skywalker Saga looks to be a truly comprehensive Star Wars game - one that should hit all the right notes for those familiar with TT's previous LEGO games, but with enough innovation and polish to entice those Star Wars fans who may otherwise not be interested.
It may all just be computer-generated building blocks, but LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is graphically impressive, and it has the added charm of utilizing LEGO more in each level's environment. Whereas older titles utilized a mixture of non-LEGO models and actual sets to populate scenery, interior environments in The Skywalker Saga have been built brick by brick. It looks like one big LEGO set, essentially, and this is further bolstered by the level of detail in its Minifigures too. Different pieces have different textures, to the point where it feels less as if these are computer-generated characters, and more like actual LEGO figures that have populated a game. This gives The Skywalker Saga an extra LEGO Movie kind of charm, which is best made apparent in its humorous and entertaining cutscenes.
TT Games recently revealed that LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga would feature an optional "Mumble Mode", essentially a setting that would remove spoken dialogue and make the characters speak in mumbles - the way they did before LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes introduced voice acting. The LEGO games where nobody talked were arguably funnier than the more recently voiced entries - at least those based on movies, as TT Games lifted audio straight from those films instead of having original voice acting. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga has improved in that area, however, boasting original voice acting and witty dialogue. Clone Wars favorites James Arnold Taylor and Matt Lanter return to voice Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker in the game, and though Mumble Mode is a welcome feature, the voiced performances have more charm to them than ever before.
The biggest test for LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is, however, its new gameplay innovations. The switch in perspective to a much closer view is a stark contrast to previous LEGO games, as is the introduction of new shooter elements, deeper boss battles and an RPG-style leveling system where characters are split into different classes. The good news is that the switch to a closer perspective has now eliminated the dynamic split-screen of previous LEGO games. Instead, players will be given a straight 50/50 vertical split down their screen, making it easier to keep track of the action. The LEGO games have always been best when playing with a friend, and the series' trademark drop-in, drop-out co-op has returned. Frustratingly, though, it appears as if The Skywalker Saga will continue the series' trend of ignoring online multiplayer which feels like a massive oversight.
The two biggest gameplay changes in LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga relate mostly to combat. The new shooting mechanics look like a step-up over the previous games, but it does appear slightly repetitive. Players can target individual parts of enemy characters to deal damage, with health bars now also present to chip away at. This runs the risk of making blasters feel underpowered, and given the lack of weapon variety currently on display, LEGO Star Wars' new shooting mechanics could wear thin over the course of nine playable movies. Lightsaber gameplay looks better, as do the boss encounters (the gameplay preview showed off Anakin's duel with Count Dooku in Revenge of the Sith), and it's refreshing to see a LEGO game venture in this direction after over a dozen releases that have largely been similar. However, these features don't go as deep as other games in the action genre, and it's possible that in looking to redesign the LEGO formula, The Skywalker Saga may have gone from an exceptional LEGO entry, to a less than innovative action-adventure title.
The other big question mark in of The Skywalker Saga's changes is its new RPG leveling system. This is a brand-new addition to the series, and it splits up the playable LEGO Star Wars characters into different classes: Jedi, Hero, Scavenger, Scoundrel, Bounty Hunter, Villain, Dark Side, Astromech Droid, and Protocol Droid. Each class has its own set of upgrades that can be purchased with Kyber Bricks, which are acquired both in the game's playable story levels and through open-world activities. Dark Side characters can be upgraded to inspire fear in enemies, causing them to run away, while Jedi are able to increase the duration of their Mind Trick abilities. It's difficult to judge currently just how much these upgrades influence gameplay, and also whether or not an RPG system feels at home in a LEGO game.
The good news for Star Wars fans is that LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga looks and feels like a celebration of the galaxy far, far away. It's funny first of all, but there's also a level of sentimentality to the proceedings. TT Games' LEGO journey started with a LEGO Star Wars game in 2005, and now it's returned to once again adapt the saga into brick form. The game looks visually stunning, and though players will be taking control of Minifigures and not flesh and blood Star Wars characters, some of the set-pieces revealed can only be described as cinematic. There are some doubts that remain over its gameplay changes, but ultimately, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga feels like a true celebration - not just of Star Wars, but of TT Games' own LEGO history.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga releases on April 5, 2022 for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Screen Rant was invited to attend a private preview presentation for the purpose of this article.
