Lego Batman: Legacy Of The Dark Knight: Everything We Know About The Arkham-Style Adventure

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Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight was one of the big surprises during last year’s Gamescom: Opening Night Live showcase. Not only is it mechanically a pretty big departure from the usual fare of Traveller’s Tales’ Lego games, but it also kind of seems like a follow-up to the Arkham games that we’ve been lacking for over a decade. The game’s still a few months away, so let’s break down everything we know so far.

The obvious Arkham influence

Legacy of the Dark Knight draws heavily from Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham games. Like those games, it takes place in an open-world Gotham with Bruce gliding and grappling around as he finds thugs to beat up and Riddler puzzles to solve. When he’s on the ground, the mini-figure Batman rides around on a motorcycle and in the Batmobile, and in combat, he throws almost rhythmic punches, kicks, and parries like he does in the Arkham games. When I played the game in October, my muscle memory for those old games kicked in pretty quick. It’s QTE-driven, which means that if you’re on top of your blocks and dodges, you can pretty much dance your way through a fight without taking a hit.

Arkham fans will also recognize a few of Batman’s tools, including the explosive gel that he uses to break through walls. Overall, it looks like Traveller’s Tales is stepping up in Rocksteady’s absence.

Playable characters

Like most Lego games, Legacy of the Dark Knight is a co-op game. One player will play as Batman, while the other can play as multiple characters from a rotating roster of partners. The ones we know of include Catwoman, Jim Gordon, Nightwing, Robin, and Talia al Ghul. Each of them will have a special ability, which will sometimes be necessary to progress through a level. Gordon, for example, has a foam gun which can be used to block obstacles in Batman’s way. If you don’t have someone to play with, you can swap between characters on the fly to use these abilities.

An homage to the many Batmen that came before

Legacy of the Dark Knight seems to pay tribute to multiple versions of Batman from movies, animation, and of course, comic books. Some notable cameos we’ve seen in the trailer include characters from the Christopher Nolan, Tim Burton, and Matt Reeves films, and no matter what version of Batman is your favorite, you’ll probably see it celebrated here. The idea is that you’ll be playing through a blocky version of Batman’s life, drawing from different iterations but telling the general story of how he went from sad orphan boy to sad orphan man who beats up people in dark alleyways. We’ll surely see cameos from different characters, such as the rest of the Bat Family, his butler Alfred, and maybe members of the Justice League and League of Assassins. Plus, we know we’ll see plenty of Batman’s iconic villains, such as the Joker, Bane, the Penguin, and Poison Ivy.