I tested Lego Batman — and it lives up to Dark Knight's Arkham games legacy

The story

We played 2 hours of the new Lego Batman game Legacy of the Dark Knight and it's a good game for kids and adults. Here's why.

From the source

I thought nothing would surprise me at this point. After months of mildly insecure hype over the scale of Crimson Desert , I knew to expect a map “four times the size of Skyrim” or whatever, and nowadays, even major undertakings can feel more additive than revelatory (see: Tears of the Kingdom ’s Depths ). But I underestimated how hard TT Games would go to make the most expansive Lego Batman game of all time — complete with a big ol’ map.

In late April, I played two hours of Legacy of the Dark Knight and got a taste of all the multitude of gameplay elements TT Games snapped together to do (vigilante) justice to every iteration of the DC Comics character. There’s clever platforming through scenes in Batman Forever . There are collectible-driven mazes and construct-a-way-out Lego puzzles inspired by The Batman . You can drive the Tumbler from Christopher Nolan’s trilogy while dressed as Frank Miller’s Batman. But most surprising, what made me exclaim like a dork, was a multi-island open-world Gotham City bursting with minifig crime. TT Games made an Arkham game — the gliding, sleuthing, and slap-happy combos — built entirely out of bricks.

Throughout my two-hour preview, I was dropped into a handful of stages throughout the early game, when Batman is already in full hero mode. But as teased in animated cut scenes and snippets of gameplay footage I viewed on site, Legacy of the Dark Knight squeezes in the full Bruce Wayne origin story, too. How many other Lego games open with murder? This one does — and once again the death of Bruce’s parents drives the young billionaire to embark on a training world tour straight out of Batman Begins . Early on he’ll meet Ra’s Al Ghul and the Ninjago League of Shadows to become Gotham’s fingerless Lego savior.

Who and what

Key names and topics in this story: Lego Batman, Dark Knight, Arkham.

Where to follow next

• Read the full piece at www.polygon.com
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