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LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight pays tribute to the hero's iconic history
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George Yang
“I think it’s incredibly flattering to be compared,” said TT Games' Cinematics Director Bob Scott. “We love the Arkham games.”
That love is obvious in-game. In fact, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight recreates the iconic scene in Batman: Arkham Asylum where Batman brings the Joker into the mental institute strapped to a gurney—and a whole lot more, spanning decades of Batman history.
Honoring those who came before
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight pays homage to many different eras of Batman across many forms of media. “We based an entire level on Arkham because it's an iconic Batman IP that’s up there with the movies and the series," said Scott.
You can expect to see many of those Batman IPs represented in LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight. While Scott didn’t want to give away everything, he mentioned that the team was inspired by moments such as the Tumbler chase in Batman Begins, the Ace Chemicals fight in Batman: Arkham Knight, and the Red Hood Year One comics.
“The Dark Knight trilogy, we used that as the spine of the story. Then we tried to bring in Batman IPs that we loved. So you have the Arkham stuff, the Animated Series, Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, and The Dark Knight Returns,” Scott continued. “The people who were writing it wanted to see the things that they loved the most in there."
Since Batman has spanned so many different mediums and art styles, the LEGO license actually made it possible to give LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight a more unified look. “The LEGO veneer over everything actually helped meld all the different eras and and iterations of Batman,” Scott explained. “It also allows us to tell something dark in a much sillier way because it's colorful and plastic, and we tried to lean into that.”
Throughout my two-hour hands-on time with the game, I could definitely tell that it had a much more light-hearted vibe compared to grittier games like Gotham Knights. The first level I played took place in Iceberg Lounge, an underground club managed by The Penguin. As I battled through his army of goons with Batman and Commissioner Gordon, I encountered bouncy castles with inflatable balls and even participated in a dance-off against other partygoers.
The second level I played was Haly’s Circus, which introduced the boy wonder, Robin. Here, he fired off a bunch of puns that made Batman audibly groan. It’s a stark shift in tone from what you would typically expect from a Batman property, but it’s a welcome one that helps LEGO Batman stand out from his other incarnations.
Another aspect to differentiate LEGO Batman was the approach to his signature grungy voice. Voice actor Shai Matheson portrays the hero in LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight. Scott said that it took “us ages to find Shai” because Batman is typically portrayed as older and more established from the start, but the voice actor for LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight would also need the comedy chops to fit the game’s tone.
“We needed to find somebody who could do the younger stuff and then develop into the older voice,” Scott explained. “When Shai starts off, his voice is much more youthful, and as it goes on, he puts on the gravel a little bit more so that by the end he sounds a lot more like classic Batman.”
The LEGO shine
In LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, you’ll explore an open-world Gotham made out of LEGO. When designing Gotham, there were a few particular nuances that made it interesting to create compared to an open-world with a more realistic art direction.
“There's loads of clever tricks used in the design. If you look at silhouettes you can see not LEGO, but outlines of LEGO, and the team used forms and shapes to build the buildings,” Scott explained. “There's LEGO integrated into all the brick work. So it's a lot more involved because you have these strict rules and dimensions. You have to use that as a template for the city, but still keep the city looking like Gotham."
Gotham also has plenty of side activities to do, including puzzles left behind by the Riddler (another cheeky nod to the Arkham series) and time trials where you race on Robin’s bike to drive through rings to beat the clock. The LEGO aesthetic works help these more “gamified” elements fit into LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight’s world where they might feel out of place in a more realistic superhero game. LEGO Gotham is moody, but isn’t as grim as its counterparts over the years—it even feels surprisingly inviting. The colorful atmosphere makes it fun to wander around fighting crime in the streets.
The Batcave is another impressive feat. It’s an absolutely enormous central hub for Batman, and there’s a shocking amount of depth and customization that I didn’t expect. The Batcave houses and displays 100 different suits for Batman and the other various playable characters, making it look like a fancy museum. There’s even a store where you can use in-game currency you’ve collected to buy decorations. These include items like a telephone booth, refrigerator, and much, much more. It felt almost like playing Animal Crossing or The Sims!
You can also expand the Batcave to create new areas like a science lab. These home decoration elements add a more cozy and playful vibe to LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, and fit in more perfectly here than they would in any other Batman game. “We wanted to use the Batcave as a metaphor for every man's place that they want, you know, their little cubby hole,” said Scott.
“It’s like the Batcave is another character, isn’t it?” he continued. “You're making your base, building your cars, making your suits, and going out into the city. You get that full hero experience through Batman’s eyes.”
The superhero genre
People who’ve been pining for another Batman: Arkham-style game will likely be pleased with LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight. Fights feel similar to Arkham's iconic Freeflow Combat. You can wail on enemies and counterattack with just a press of a button. It all feels very fluid.
As you build up your power meter, you can also perform flashy finishing moves. TT Games uses the artistic license of the LEGO series to get creative, with finishers like a fast multi-hit attack that’s reminiscent of Donnie Yen’s famous Wing Chun Chain punch, and even throwing a pie into an enemy’s face. It’s incredibly entertaining to guess what kind of finishing move you’ll get and watch them play out.
Each playable character has their own set of tools to help differentiate themselves. Batman has his Batarang and Batclaw grappling hook, while Commissioner Gordon has a goop gun that sticks enemies. You’re also able to switch between Batman and his companion on the fly, adding variety to the moment-to-moment gameplay.
Those who’ve played other modern superhero games will feel at home playing LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight too. The tool and skill upgrade menus are straightforward and easy to understand. They remind me of the skill trees in Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man games. You're also encouraged to explore because collectibles like WayneTech that are hidden in levels (and rewarded for completing activities) are used to unlock new skills and make your tools stronger.
In my preview, there were four characters unlocked: Batman, Commissioner Gordon, Catwoman, and Robin. There are seven playable characters in total—at least at launch—with the other three confirmed to be Nightwing, Batgirl, and Talia Al Ghul. Past LEGO games had gigantic rosters with hundreds of characters, but TT Games is taking a more methodical approach this time and focusing on how their own characters fit into the story.
“One of the themes of the game is Batman thinks he works alone, but he never does. He always has help and a cohort,” Scott explained. “So what we had to do was look at how Batman developed from his origins, and work out who were the best characters.”
LEGO Batman has appeared more in movies and television than in games recently, but Scott assured us that the hero in LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is his own being, rather than the one in the movies. “Our Batman is separate, and he’s a much more likable character,” he joked. “As much as The LEGO Batman Movie is amazing—and I'm a huge fan—we decided to take our own path.”
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight releases May 22, and is available for prepurchase on the Epic Games Store.