2 hours with Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight was an uncomplicated burst of joy

I strolled into a late April event for Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight in a funk. Traffic was horrendous on the morning journey into Los Angeles, sleep was crap the night before, and topping off my car cost $45. Were this a hands-on with any other Batman game, the brooding might've helped me get into the mind of the caped crusader.

But as I should've guessed from developer Traveller's Tales' modern Lego run, Legacy of the Dark Knight is just too darn delightful to sustain a stormy mood. It took all of five minutes for the brick-based brawler to put a smile on my face, and it didn't go away for two hours of play.

I'm a fan of this new era of TT Lego games. They're not pumping them out as quickly as they used to—the last one, The Skywalker Saga, released four years ago—but that's because each is deeper, grander, and fundamentally fun enough to appeal to anyone, not just the kiddos. Gone is the old fixed camera, now replaced with a full 3D sandbox. Gone is the "mash square" combat, enhanced now by slightly more cerebral dodge and counter buttons. And in the case of Legacy of the Dark Knight, gone are the dozens upon dozens of unlockable characters—in their place a lean cast of sidekicks with distinct abilities and skill trees. It's a superhero game in the same mold that the Arkham series created.

It should be considered a tragedy that Batman hasn't had a game to himself in 11 years (eight if you care to count the Telltale series, or two if you still have a VR headset). We didn't know it at the time, but Arkham Knight was the last hurrah for the greatest detective's turn in the videogame spotlight. Legacy of the Dark Knight is a colossal exercise in reverence for all things Batman, but in terms of gameplay it's specifically a monument to Rocksteady's legendary run.

That is to say: You can consider this Lego Batman a spiritual Arkham entry, or at least the closest thing we're going to get to one anytime soon. TT is open about the elements it's pulling from the series—the signature combat, open world Gotham, Riddler puzzles, and a light touch of stealth.

The goal is to make the "ultimate Batman game," as TT development head Johnathan Smith told me, and where better to start than the best superhero games ever made?

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Brick breaker

My demo was a series of disconnected missions that began at the Iceberg Lounge, the headquarters of crime boss Carmine Falcone. Legacy of the Dark Knight tells one continuous Batman story that begins all the way back in that miserable alley, but each chapter is themed around a different interpretation of the hero.

This chapter near the start of the game was stylized around Matt Reeves' The Batman. The greener Bruce is joined for the first(?) time by detective Jim Gordon (whose Jefferey Wright likeness does not appear to change no matter the era or outfit).

Within two seconds of stepping through the front door, Batman and Gordon are accosted by goons, and the camera pulls out to a familiar angle. Combat is where the strongest Arkham vibes lie: nudging Batman in a direction zips him to the closest punchable face, triangle triggers violent counters, and there's a dodge for unblockable attacks. Batarangs even serve the same purpose as in Arkham, stunning enemies and opening them up to a rapid combo that obliterates them into pieces.

I never entered any real danger with eight hearts of HP, but apparently cranking up the difficulty cuts it down to three. Smith told me dying actually has a consequence in Legacy of the Dark Knight—you're whisked back to a checkpoint instead of popping back into the fight where you stand.

I suspect a highlight of Legacy of the Dark Knight will be the light puzzle solving between fights. An early obstacle required using Gordon's satisfying goop launcher to gum up the gears of a lighting gantry so they can be used as platforms. Another involved sneaking Catwoman into a rich guy's apartment by slotting color-coded books into the right shelves, then sending her cat through a special vent to unlock a door on the other side. Breezy and charming.

The only Batman behavior that felt lacking in my demo was stealth. There was a stealth phase with some encounters that let me silently thin the chaff, but it was extremely simplistic in a bad way. There's no "sneak" button and you don't have to worry about making too much noise, as most guards just stood still with their backs to Batman as if waiting for their cue.

I hope these begin to resemble real stealth opportunities later on, but if they don't, I'll understand why: Arkham's gargoyle skulking and ventilation-stalking was probably deemed too slow or boring for the kids (but it's my favorite part of those games). At least the takedowns themselves are funny—my favorite was Lego Batman tapping on a guy's shoulder and startling him so badly that he exploded into bits.

A few other mission-specific notes:

• The last mission of the demo was a Poison Ivy boss fight that, unfortunately, bugged out halfway through. Ivy's monster stopped swinging at me and I got to keep pounding on it until it died. Anticlimactic.
• Dick Grayson's Robin is introduced through a playable circus sequence that was super creative and fun. It ended not with Robin's parents dying, but them weirdly deciding that Robin can go live with a creepy loner in a cave forever? A situation where the G-rated sanitization is more upsetting than the actual story.
• There's a bit in the Iceberg Lounge where Batman and Gordon need to "blend in" by dancing, which I thought was just a cutscene gag, but actually triggered a brief rhythm game. Adorable.
• Not big on Batman's voice. He's trying too hard to be overly-graveled in a way that only Will Arnett can pull off with a straight face.

Toybox

By the time missions were done, I had 20 minutes to wander around open world Gotham. This isn't the first time TT has made a Gotham City hub, but this one's on another level. The multi-island sandbox is unexpectedly large, and I reckon I couldn't run for six seconds without finding a side activity. They really are more activities than quests or missions—brief navigation puzzles, gliding challenges, sudden crime reports, etc. I can see these getting old long before they run dry, but honestly, gliding and driving around the city is such a joy that I can also see myself methodically clearing the map over a long period. There's really no rush with a collectathon of this magnitude.

One thing I wish we could've tested, but could not: multiplayer. Legacy of the Dark Knight has two-player co-op that's local only. No online support is disappointing and strange for a multiplayer game in 2026, but at least the Steam version will support Remote Play Together out of the gate. I tried this last year with a different Lego game and it worked fine. The bad news is you need a decent connection to host a stable stream, but the consolation is player two doesn't need to own their own copy.

TT ended the session with a teaser that convinced me it knows what sort of Batman fans were in attendance: a chapter intro that transformed Gotham into the noir-soaked backgrounds of Batman: The Animated Series. Hell yeah.

It feels silly to admit, but I'm now eagerly seated for this primarily kids' game. The Legacy of the Dark Knight that's taking shape is more elevated Lego excellence—an uncomplicated burst of joy and with a lot of Batman to sink into. It's out May 22.