If you told me ten years ago that the next Arkham game would be a hodgepodge of Batman & Robin and The Dark Knight constructed entirely out of plastic, I’d have probably turned heel and run in the other direction because I don’t know you and that’s a bizarre suggestion that makes zero sense. But that’s exactly what Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is, and by some miracle, it works.
It’s tempting to reduce the game to ‘Arkham Lite’, a kid-friendly take on Rocksteady’s series that lets even a six-year-old enjoy the freeflow thrill of sending goons to the ICU with irreparable brick damage. But it’s also the culmination of Lego Marvel Super Heroes’ New York and Lego Batman 2’s Gotham, as TT Games throws the expansive roster of minifigs into the wastebin to hone in on perfecting the essentials instead.
Vehicle handling has never been Lego’s strong suit, but cruising through the gothic city streets is, for once, satisfying. The combo-stringing brawls add flavor to the drone typical of Lego action, and the reduced number of characters (you now only have seven, which unlock as you progress) has allowed TT Games to make each one feel truly unique, with their own moveset and arsenal of gadgets. Levels interlock more fluidly with the open world, which is filled to the brim with collectibles that gleefully borrow from Arkham to make for more rewarding puzzles, all of which is showcased in the ever-expanding Batcave hub, my favorite since Dexter's Diner. Gliders and grapples finally make traversal without a flying character enjoyable, and boss fights are surprisingly engaging, superseding Rocksteady’s own work in places. Not to mention the new layer of depth that stealth offers for missions, emphasizing a level of verticality we’ve not seen before.
I never begrudged the smaller roster as the extensive list of unlockable costumes more than made up for the lack of characters.
It’s not all sunshine and purple studs, however. While there are some stand-out missions that easily rank among TT Games’ best work, like The Flying Grayson’s lavish circus display that offers an obstacle course that sent me hurtling back to a childhood diet of Dorito’s Crash Course, there are just as many levels that are painfully short and crammed with collectibles for the sake of formula. Mr Freeze’s boss fight takes place in a singular room — that’s the level. Joker’s final showdown at the parade is one small street with three floats — that’s the level. Freeing Kite-Man from a plant’s grasp takes place entirely on a cramped rooftop — that’s the level.
While they click together more satisfyingly with Gotham, too much of the game relinquishes what should be a sprawling level to the open-world, leaving some missions to feel lacking and abrupt. And of the collectibles ham-fisted into these levels, they pale in comparison to the boons of prior Lego games, offering color palettes instead of exciting modifiers.
Legacy Of The Dark Knight Is One Of The Funniest Lego Games
Where Legacy of the Dark Knight truly shines is in its story, even if Batman’s voice is as convincing as the half-hearted impressions my friends and I would make over voice notes in the pandemic. TT Games has adapted movies in the past, but never a disconnected series of reboots and half-sequels, and connecting those dots should have left us with a picture as eyebrow raising as Batman Damned's, er, let's not go there.
Instead, it’s one of the most compelling stories in the whole Lego series that miraculously snaps every movie into one continuity in a way that actually makes sense. More importantly, it does so in a way that understands the mythos of the Caped Crusader arguably far better than any of the movies it’s adapting.
Batman Begins sets the stage with an origin story that leads nicely into The Batman’s first year, which leads into The Penguin’s mayoral race and Red Hood One’s fall into a vat of Joker Venom, unfurling the events of Batman, Batman & Robin, and Batman Forever, with a dollop of Condiment King for good measure. It all comes to a head with Bane in a clever spin on The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, and Arkham Asylum, bringing the entire bat-family together and finally dispelling the long-standing myth cemented by the more recent movies that the Dark Knight must wage this one man war against crime alone.
There’s a red-bricked heart beating at the center of this mishmash of a story, and I was left grinning at the showstopping finale (easily among TT Games’ best work). But even with this elevation, there’s still that signature humor coursing through its 1x16 plate veins that isn’t ashamed to poke fun at the source material.
Whether it’s Robin cracking MCU quips that infuriate Batman, suit descriptions that jab at the infamous Martha line, Harvey Dent becoming Two-Face after having pies thrown in his face, Deathstroke being mistaken for Deadpool, or even Jared Leto’s Joker being an embarrassing phase the Clown Prince is too ashamed to talk about — TT Games has finally found its footing after years of struggling to capture the spirit of the slapstick humor it started with. It’s just a shame that a Batman miscast has left some of the otherwise brilliant jokes falling flat.
Performance on PC was surprisingly solid on an RTX 4090 rig, with only minor stuttering during cutscenes. Otherwise, it was a smooth 60fps experience on high graphics, with no DLSS or frame-gen enabled.
Legacy of The Dark Knight has set a new plastic mold for TT Games, and is easily the studio’s best work since the golden age of Batman, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and Marvel Super Heroes. It might not reach the heights set by the Arkham games, but the studio’s personality shines through unabashed inspiration to come out on top with an all-timer Lego classic. All I’m left wondering now is, when are we getting our hands on Lego Spider-Man: Legacy of the Webhead?
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 84/100 Critics Rec: 93%
- Released
- May 22, 2026
- ESRB
- Everyone 10+ / Crude Humor, Fantasy Violence, In-Game Purchases
- Developer(s)
- TT Games
- Publisher(s)
- Warner Bros. Games, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
WHERE TO PLAY
Played on PC.
- Genre(s)
- Action, Adventure, Superhero, Open-World
- Brilliant open-world with plenty of collectibles to find and engaging puzzles to solve.
- Some of the strongest missions in recent TT Games history.
- Combat is fluid, engaging, and every character feels truly unique to play as, while stealth offers a new layer of depth to missions.
- Traversal is at its best, with the grapple, glider, and Batmobile rendering fast travel completely moot.
- Some levels are too short, and end far too abruptly.
- Batman is sorely miscast, and never quite finds his footing.
- The iconic stud sound effect is gone, and has been replaced by a bland, minimalist, modern alternative (I?m bitter about this one, TT).