Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight review: If no one else will make a new Arkham, TT Games will

Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is a new Arkham game in all but name. It combines the combat of the Rocksteady series, the open world of Arkham Knight, and a shedload of TT Games humour to create a game that Batman fans will likely love.

While the low level of challenge (even for a Lego game) makes the main missions somewhat pedestrian, Gotham is great fun to explore, and the game’s writing elicits regular chuckles. The Lego games have always been funny, but for this one, TT Games has cracked up the British humour significantly.

Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight isn’t the retelling of one Batman story; it’s an amalgam of all of Batman’s greatest hits, iterations and eras mashed together. It does at times come across as a bit “play the hits,” but the way TT Games transitions characters like The Joker from his Jack Nicholson camp to Heath Ledger-era sociopathy is well handled and very tongue-in-cheek.

The game can be played entirely in co-op, where you’ll play as Batman plus a Bat-friend such as Jim Gordon, Catwoman, Robin and a few more. Each of these characters will have their own abilities that let you traverse through simple puzzles. So far, so Lego game.

What sets Legacy of the Dark Knight apart from previous Lego Batman games is the clear influence of Rocksteady‘s seminal Batman video game series, Arkham. The combat is almost exactly the same, with combos of melee hits only being broken up with countering a foe via the triangle button.

Not only this, but the game also has a stealth system for taking down enemies that involves grappling up onto, and between, gargoyles and other perches. It feels at times like TT Games is saying, “Well, if nobody else is going to make a new Arkham game…”. Rocksteady is actually credited as a co-developer on the project, though the extent of its contribution is currently unknown.

While this collection of mechanics is still a lot of fun, the ease of the game generally, even on its hardest setting, means that you’re not especially encouraged to use it. There’s not much point in slowly and methodically taking out the guards scattered around a level when you’re just as quick to punch them in the bricks.

More punishment for messing up stealth, or perhaps more damage delt by enemies, would appeal to me, but I also acknowledge that this is a family title at its core, and while it is doing Arkham karaoke, it is not actually an Arkham game.

The open world of Legacy of the Dark Knight is extremely cluttered. Now, you can see that as derogatory, and if you do, you don’t have to engage with it at all. You can think of it as a fancy loading screen between the 20+ish missions that make up the main game.

However, if you’re a completionist, I hope you don’t have a busy summer ahead. Every island in the game has dozens of collectables, challenges, puzzles, easter eggs and more to collect. When you unlock a tower in a region, it will mark on the map everything you can do in that zone. Opening it was like a mid-2010’s Ubisoft map meme.

Lego games are collectathons, and there’s a part of me that wants to go and get all of this stuff, but it does feel very slightly excessive. There are engaging collectables that tie to story interactions, such as a plotline involving The Riddler (who else?).

But each neighbourhood also has its own random collectable that you need to smash 10 of, which feels like a checklist for the sake of a checklist. Having said all of that, flying through Gotham, or racing around the streets in just about any Batvehicle you can think of, still tugs at the heartstrings of even the most cynical of Batman fans.

It’s not quite as stunning as Arkham Knight’s rendition (which still holds up in 2026), but it’s not far off it. It’s oppressive, full of neon against tall dark structures, and of course, constantly raining. Gotham itself is a canvas on which TT Games has painted as many references as they possibly could.

The game’s final two chapters, the strongest in the game, are so full of incredible Batman fan service and hyperspecific call-backs that I was smiling from ear to ear. This section of the game also introduces Bane, voiced by Matt Berry. Utterly inspired casting that made me wish he were the main antagonist in not just every chapter of this game, but every game in general.

When I reviewed Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, I mentioned that it felt like TT Games was taking its very last bow with Star Wars, and as such, was showing just how much adoration for the franchise it had. While this game doesn’t quite completely exhaust the canon as the Skywalker Saga did, Lego Batman: The Legacy of the Dark Knight feels much the same.

TT Games’ Batman credentials can’t be disputed. Just about every suit you could possibly want is in here. Villains, both icons and jobbers, get their moment to shine. Batman comics, films, TV and games all contribute to the tableau of Batman fandom.

Is it a challenging game? No, not at all, but I can’t fault the fun I had playing it, and the love it clearly has for the Caped Crusader. The volume of collectables will probably mean that a very small fraction of those who dive into this version of Gotham will 100% it, but even players who are just here for a brick-by-brick tour of Batman’s best bits will have a great time.