Once upon a time, back in the distant 2011 or so, I got a disk with the first Lego Batman game. The characters back then couldn’t talk, they just gestured, and it was a certain kind of charm. I haven’t exactly been a Lego game fan: tried only three or four projects, including Lego Marvel Super Heroes. But the new Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight caught my attention with its bold claims. The developers from TT Games (and their helpers from Rocksteady!) constantly mentioned the Arkham series. They said it was a love letter to all Batman fans. Sounds promising. But is it?
I’m a huge Arkham fan. I’ve replayed all the games several times on my main Steam account alone. I begged my parents for my first decent computer just for Arkham Asylum and was blown away by Joker’s gameplay.
So, needless to say, I was both very attentive and skeptical of the developers’ claims. After all, as of 2026, no game had yet perfectly replicated Arkham’s combat formula: its superb Free Flow and the impact of its attacks. Insomniac’s Spider-Man came close but not quite.
And you know what? For the most part, they weren’t lying.
Before the release, everyone was scared by the officially revealed system requirements. For some reason, the developers recommended 720p and 30 FPS with frame generation. People, of course, started yelling, “Unoptimized UE5 project strikes again!” But thankfully, everything turned out alright.
The game runs quite well on a mid-range PC—better than many games in recent years. No stuttering or significant frame drops (well, almost: on the May 19th build, the FPS dropped noticeably while driving the Batmobile, but I hope they’ll fix that by the release). It’s stable on PS5, excellent on PC, and even Steam Deck runs it at almost 60 FPS. For Unreal 5, that’s a really good result.
Hands down, the graphics of Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight are the best in Lego games at the moment. Despite the construction set style, the game boasts enviable attention to details. The materials are crafted with meticulous care: the figures show scuffs, dirt at the joints, and realistic raindrops. The lighting is simply stunning. The opening mission, where little Bruce is strolling through the garden, the setting sun falls so softly on the plastic textures that you can’t tell the game apart from the actual Lego model sitting on your shelf at home.
Gotham is nighttime, neon, and rain. Drops of water trickle down the characters, and the reflections in the puddles are genuine. This is the most beautiful Lego Gotham ever. It’s far from photorealistic, but who would ever expect photorealism from Lego?
Previously, almost all Lego games were parodic retellings of specific movies. Here, the developers have served the fans with a nostalgic trip through the most iconic moments from various Dark Knight films, which turned out to be both a strength and a weakness.
Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins provided the game with mountain training, League of Shadows, and Ra’s al Ghul. The prologue is crafted with love, although I personally found these missions a bit drawn-out. I wanted to get out and hop into the open world as soon as possible, but the game kept me stuck in the mountains.
From Tim Burton’s Batman (1989), we got the scene with the Joker, where the villain in glasses teases: “Bats shouldn’t beat up a half-blind man.” There’s even a recreation of the iconic opening sequence from the 90s animated series in a 4:3 ratio.
Matt Reeves and his Batman 2022 — Falcone, Penguin, a noir detective. Gordon and Catwoman’s designs are also from there. Personally, I didn’t like it, but oh well.
The Arkham series made its appearance, too – but only occasionally, in the form of references. For example, Joker’s interrogation room from The Dark Knight but with the added Talia al Ghul. The Joker asks, “Are you going to pull the usual ‘good cop, bad cop’ schtick?” – a hilarious joke.
Finally, there’s Bane from The Legend Reborn and even a bit of Arkham Asylum.
So, what’s the problem? The plot is delivered episodically, making the overall picture feel choppy and broken. If you’ve seen all those films and have a general idea of what’s going on, you’ll be fine overall; you already know everything.
But what if you got an adult who isn’t familiar with Nolan or Burton’s work? They’ll likely find it a bit boring. The important elements that made the drama work in the films are missing here. For example, the story of Two-Face: it’s unclear why he became such a jerk. Simply because. There’s no motivation, no backstory—just a vivid visual image and a coin toss.
The humor is a bit of a hit and miss. For a relatively adult audience, there are literally a couple of funny jokes in the entire game. Otherwise, it’s dumb, childish, and downright cringe-worthy. Ninja farts, constant food throwing, endless amounts of fish everywhere. According to a friend who is a true Lego enthusiast, other Lego projects have much better humor. Why Batman decided to lower the bar is a mystery.
Speaking of fish, there’s enough of it here to fill every sushi restaurant in your city and have some left over. In any unclear situation, a fish is pulled out of nowhere and slapped across the face.
Take the signature scene is Harvey Dent’s transformation into Two-Face: first, he gets slammed in the face with a pie, then scalded with hot tea, then he falls onto the pavement, then falls out of the ambulance—and always on the same side. It’s absurd, cartoonishly cruel, and constantly repeats itself. I was laughing like a horse.
Then he walks around flipping a coin, and it always comes up on the ugly side. Purely brilliant in its stupidity.
When it comes to the gameplay, the big claims raised expectations higher than for other Lego games. And, frankly, they didn’t lie, gameplay-wise, this is arguably the best Lego game to date but with few notable drawbacks.
The developers have ripped off Arkham’s Free Flow almost perfectly. The character jumps from bandit to bandit, dodges, jumps behind shielders, counterattacks (though only one enemy at a time; there are no double counters). Builds up a combo, fills the meter, and finishes enemies off.
At the beginning, the game seems too simple (attack, counterattack, and maybe a gadget or two). But as you progress, new moves become available: batarangs, a grappling hook (pull an enemy, spin them around, throw them at another), and a swivel jump. Enemies become more diverse and start to include shield bearers, brutes, riflemen, suicide robots. I’d especially like to mention the bosses; they’re quite interesting, with their own humor and fun challenges.
What’s bad: it all feels more like a visual carbon copy than a fully-fledged adaptation. There’s no impact in battles. Parrying has huge windows, and the enemies act like headless chickens: they don’t pick up dropped weapons, they don’t use the environment. For me, an Arkham fan, this is noticeable.
Finishers are a whole other story. In Arkham, you built up a multiplier and could hit a finisher at any time. Here, the meter takes a long time to build up, and finishers are less common. It’s annoying at first. By the end of the game, you get used to it, but the aftertaste lingers.
You can now choose the difficulty which is a first for TT Games’ Lego games. I played hard mode (The Dark Knight)—even there, the game doesn’t strive for a serious challenge, but it’s a huge step up. Previously, characters would simply lose coins and respawn on the spot. Now, after taking too many beatings, Bats drives off to the nearest checkpoint.
Stealth, however, is complete crap.
I’ll be brief here. The bots in the game are incredibly blind. They’re probably even worse than the AI in Ubisoft games. If you don’t want to, you’ll never get caught. This mechanic is purely pointless: there’s no challenge. No consequences if you get caught—your companion will simply knock out the enemy who spotted you.
At worst, a couple more mobs will come running. Leveling up unlocks some stealth tricks from the older Arkham, but it doesn’t save the situation. Most locations don’t even encourage stealth—there are hordes of enemies, it’s easier to just charge in and punch them in the face.
On a more positive plus side, there are some funny finishing animations: Batman slaps an enemy on the shoulder, they turn around, and Batman goes “Boo!”, and the enemy dies of fear. Or he hangs balloons on them, and the thug flies off into the sky. But these are gags, not stealth.
Remember the Batmobile from Arkham Knight? It makes a comeback but it’s more of a tool for urban activities, not a pocket tank. Overall, it’s usable: floor the throttle and race to the quest marker or the carjacker. If you crash into another car, it just flies off. If you jump onto the sidewalk, passersby either dramatically jump out of the way or walk right through you.
But once you unlock gliding (and it’s really well done—almost like in Arkham City, you can play with speed and altitude), you won’t want to go back to the Batmobile. So, personally, I interacted with the car as little as possible – it’s much cooler to soar over Gotham and loot goodies scattered on the ground and in the air.
The open world and its activities are full of collectables. Gotham’s four islands are very lively and diverse with lots of architecture, plenty of pedestrians, cars, and practically all the iconic locations from the Batman universe.
The open-world progression is classic LEGO: story first, exploration second. Note that fast travel points are unlocked by solving riddles.
The city is built with vertical gameplay in mind—it’s not a flat world, but a space where you constantly want to use the grappling hook and glide across rooftops.
You can spend your time collecting currency, looking for chests with upgrades and costumes, solving the riddles, taking part in Batmobile racing, tackling random crimes and even returning escaped animals to the zoo. The Batcave is now customizable: you spend currency, clear the space, place figurines, surfboards, and decorative junk. It looks cozy. There’s also a character leveling system, with each character having their own mini-skill tree. Upgrade points are scattered throughout the city and in story missions.
There are tons of costumes. Just the Batman costumes come in dozens: from comics, old TV series, all the movies, even a super-obscure Japanese ninja Batman. The other heroes aren’t far behind, and there are red cubes on top of it—modifiers that change the color of the costume and add special effects (can be applied to cars, too). It’s not Gotham anymore, it’s a circus tent, but kids will love it.
There are only seven playable characters in Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight. For a Lego game, that’s incredibly few, a mere smattering. But each character is given two unique gadgets, which are used in both puzzles and combat.
- Batman: Batarangs and a grappling hook. Aggressive damage dealer.
- Commissioner Gordon: A blaster with hardening foam (similar to chewing gum). Stuns enemies, blocks machinery, and provides crowd control.
- Robin/Nightwing: Mobility, attaches objects with a rope.
- Catwoman: Opens safes, uses a whip, and uses tame cats.
- Batgirl: A drone (rarely used, but present).
Everyone has shared tools (glider, grappling hook), so in the open world, the characters feel similar, doubly so in solo play. However, in co-op (local only, no online), they shine. What feels missing are cooperative interactions, various joint finishing moves, the ability to throw a teammate at an enemy. The potential the game has for co-op wasn’t realized.
The real surprise comes with boss battles. Arkham had some pretty serious issues with boss fights. I can personally count three or four decent bosses in all the games in the series, the rest being so-so. Does anyone remember the battle with the Pied Piper?
Legacy of the Dark Knight is better. The bosses are genuinely engaging. Sure, they’re not a hell of a challenge, but they’re not boring and require tactics and teamwork. Battles take place in several phases, and almost every boss has unique mechanics. Despite me playing on hard difficulty, the enemies still don’t pose a serious threat. But the fact remains—the developers really put in the effort.
Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight isn’t just another Lego game. It’s the best Lego game to date, and the best Batman game since Arkham Knight (and it’s been 11 years, Karl!). Sure, it’s not as deep as the Arkham games, and not as charismatic as The Lego Batman Movie. But it’s made with passion, love, and an understanding that players want more than just button mashing.
The question remains who it is aimed at, and here’s my opinion. For Steam Deck owners, this game is fantastic.
For kids aged 6 to 12 or so, it is the perfect introduction to Batman. It’ll keep them away from mobile brainrot apps and gacha traps. Parents looking for a local co-op experience for themselves and their children will love it, too. You’ll laugh at the references, and your kids will laugh at all the fish.
Arkham fans who are willing to forgive simplifications for the sake of nostalgia and fan service will have a good time as will those tired of hundred-hour long open-world games filled with endless grind.
However, there are also plenty of people who will find that the game is missing a mark, such as hardcore Arkham fans who expect the same depth of combat and dark noir. It’s Lego.
For those who hate slapstick and cringe humor (fish, farts, pies in the face) and the like, you are not going to have a great time. It is also not for those hoping for online co-op (it’s not there), or those who can’t stand primitive stealth, it’s there, but it’s bad.
