Ever since Lego Star Wars: The Video Game from 2005 Traveller’s Tales has been almost exclusively developing the Lego-licensed action adventure videogames. And they all followed the template established by that 2005 original with very few and rather minor changes. Even though the mumbling voices and original movie clips were swapped for voice acting recorded specifically for the games, even though more open world segments and different mechanics were introduced, the formula of the games was rigid and predictable. Which is one of the main reasons, I stopped even looking in the direction of these titles after The Lord of the Rings title – playing these titles became way too boring. Which meant that I’ve missed a rather curious attempt at making the gameplay more varied and fun in the Ninjago Movie Video Game from 2017. I still got bored with it, but at least that one had some genuinely fun ideas to it (and wasn’t developed by the main Traveller’s Tales studio).
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga was supposed to be a refresher of the series. Not a revolution, necessarily, but a long needed evolution. It was built on a new engine, restructured the game world, reshuffled the ideas that were at the base of all previous Lego Star Wars titles and, based on reports, had a really messy development. It is a shame, then, that the end result of this effort is the same boring TT Games’ Lego title we’ve seen for 17 years, just with a new coat of paint.
In case you haven’t had experience with the these titles, TT Games’ Lego games are action adventure platformers with level based structure and some hub or open world segments. The Skywalker Saga in particular is mostly the open world where story-driven content can also happen, and only occasionally the classic linear level gameplay. Also unlike many older titles, the camera in the game is mostly controlled by the players, whereas in older titles it was often set to fixed camera angles. Being a Lego-licensed game, a big emphasis is put on how almost any piece of decoration on the level can be broken into Lego pieces, and performing this act also usually grants you “studs”, which is the in-game currency for purchasing upgrades and items. Though, that often requires the collection of other hidden items that might be locked behind a puzzle or a little challenge.
Additionally, all characters are grouped into separate “classes”, each of which have their own unique abilities that cannot be used by others. For example, only Jedi or Sith can move objects with Force, while only the “villains” have access to thermal detonators to explode items built with a specific material. This means that during each open world or linear level segment you will be coming across things you cannot interact with as part of the story-driven campaign, as the characters available to you are locked at that point, but you will be able to later revisit them in Free play mode, where you can use any unlocked character in any level. It’s simple, rather intuitive and fun and can be enjoyed by players of essentially any age, as these titles are often very easy. In fact, the change to how the health and item collection works in this game, combined with less death pits and invisible damage fields, makes this entry even easier to play than before. Which is totally fine and fits the “for all ages” idea of the series.
Problem is – this is all fun if you’ve never played any of the previous entries, but if you have, there’s hardly any reason to play the new game. It has changes, yes, and some of them are good. Already mentioned player health situation is an improvement. The combat is a bit more involved too, with combo possibilities and counter attacks – nothing as fancy as that Ninjago game, but still less boring than it used to be. The abilities are, arguably, better handled and the concept of having a story-driven moment (like a boss fight) as part of the open world exploration is good, as there’s no need to build a unique level just for the sake of a one-off situation. But it doesn’t really feel any different. And the open world structure is only going to be fun who’s not already bored with the typical open world games in addition to TT’s Lego games.
The entire time playing The Skywalker Saga I couldn’t drop the feeling as if I was playing a game from early 2010s. Sure, the series did evolve from the 2005 formula, but to another outdated formula. The abundance of boring mini-games, the overreliance on terribly unexciting and pointless QTEs, the open world that exists just so they could have many markers with “stuff to collect” on the screen… Lego Star Wars: The Video Game felt exciting and creative but limited by the technological restrictions of what could be achieved in 2005. The Skywalker Saga has none of that excitement, creativity or freshness. It’s bigger, longer and more pretty, but is nowhere near as fun as what that first game was for the time. Even as far as humor goes, it’s shockingly tame and boring most of the time, with very few jokes that land well and are not simple slapstick comedy. And taking them as standalone “retellings” of the movies is still impossible, just as it was with the older titles – you have to know the originals to understand what’s going on and why.
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is an evolution for the series, sure. And it is probably going to be fun for those who have never ever played a Traveller’s Tales Lego game before and likes Star Wars. Oh and if you’re among those who care about games packing as much “hours of content” as possible, you might find yourself doing things here for a long time. For others, though, I just don’t see the appeal.