The Nintendo Switch 2 has already accumulated a few LEGO games in its first year-and-change on the market. But none are as big as Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight. As one of PN’s bigger LEGO video game fans, I figured I’d take this latest adventure through its paces. After all, it’s been—double-checks—eight years since I last reviewed a game in this franchise.

Let’s face it, odds are Nintendo fans know these LEGO video games. There have been dozens (spread across several series) over 20 years or so, starting back with the GameCube. Legacy of the Dark Knight brings its own twist, of course, but the tasks are arranged so that you’ll feel right at home, so to speak. Adventure, acquire, assemble. The triple A’s. This latest installment is nearly a triple-A game, except for the usual LEGO bugs. But more on these in a bit.

This isn’t the LEGO Batman you played on your Wii, or in my case, the DS. The bedrock here is player freedom, with Gotham City open for full exploration—no small hub world like earlier LEGO games here. While fast travel is available, we rarely used it, since Gotham’s areas (rather than feeling fragmented) are connected by bridges. Gliding over these (or grappling like Spider-Man) is so much fun, and far preferable to picking an icon from a map screen and enduring long load times. You can even drive a plethora of vehicles. The Batmobile from the animated series, Jim Gordon’s SWAT van, a couple dozen others—you pick your ride.

The open-world design in LEGO games has come a long way over the years and is often the highlight of more recent games. Gotham is a varied time sink, avoiding much of the repetitive nature similar games are sometimes known for. My wife and I had a blast searching for secondary objectives around the city. Admittedly, this approach didn’t make for the timeliest review, as we tackled the story mode at a more leisurely pace. Legacy of the Dark Knight has an open world that is much more content-rich and key than, say, in LEGO Batman 2. As a result, our most enjoyable moments occurred here. 

And when it comes to investing your game-playing time, the best LEGO titles awaken the completionists among us. Legacy of the Dark Knight pulls this off, especially in split-screen co-op where you can divide the tasks. It’s not dynamic split-screen, which some other LEGO games have tried; it’s locked, cleaner, and better for it. Player one can scour the rooftops for the last piece of a batcave trophy, while player two can be miles away completing a driving challenge. Even when you’re doing your own thing, you’re still working toward shared goals. Since your partner is always visible on the map as an icon, they rarely seem too far away. You can easily call on them to lend a hand, locate a lost zoo animal, or take out one of Poison Ivy’s plants. While a solo player can solve every puzzle (regardless of location and type), clearly some were designed with co-op in mind. Co-op is good fun. In fact, co-op is great fun!

And fun is the general vibe. The LEGO humor that’s a staple carries over into this blend of Batman lore. Let’s be real, a story that attempts to blend decades of Batman pop culture (with different interpretations of the character) is already inherently funny. That’s the recipe for Legacy of the Dark Knight. Mix one cup Bale with three teaspoons of Keaton, baste well with Kilmer and Clooney, etc. I admit I had more fun going through the Flugelheim Museum (rocking to Prince music), imagining I was Keaton’s Batman in the Tim Burton film. Still, I had fun with the others, especially once I embraced any mood shifts and just went along for the ride. After all, it’s still Batman, different interpretations notwithstanding. And even when I had to stop and think to understand what was happening, it’s clear the devs made an effort to make each (long) chapter cohesive.

It’s different but fits what the game was going for; I think even casual Batman fans can get a real kick out of it, though obviously the more you know the caped crusader, the better. As an E10+ rated game, expect the PG-13 darkness to be toned down here. This is not nearly as violent as an Arkham game. Comical moments are plentiful. We chuckled far more often than I can mention in this review. A couple of highlights include the Riddler zinging us, saying he made challenges we solved easy, and much of Bane’s (voiced by Matt Barry) booming dialogue.

Skill bricks ensure both a thorough initial play and replayability. Red ones are cosmetic. So if you wanna dress Batman as he was in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Robin like he’s in Teen Titans Go!, or Batgirl from the 1960s TV series, you can. With a greater focus on a small group of characters, as the plot necessitates, it can seem jarring at first glance. But if this game adopted the classic LEGO grid approach, you’d still see triple-digit characters with all the different costumes. Is that worse than seeing dozens of skins with identical movesets? I don’t think so.

Gold skill bricks let you upgrade combat and exploration, increasing your health and stud combo multiplier, to name two you’ll likely want to prioritize early. Combat, with more emphasis on combos, dodging, stealth, and timing, is improved. And once you earn the means to start expanding your combat capabilities with WayneTech caches, you won’t want to stop. Seeing Batman throw three batarangs at a time or Catwoman send an army of cats to fight alongside her, for example, is unmissable.

As I mentioned at the outset, Legacy of the Dark Knight has some bugs. It’s a LEGO game; that’s a constant, and a running joke even for fans like me. It’s not for lack of playtesters, so maybe it’s a case of not crossing every t and dotting every i, as it were. But unlike several other LEGO games, these are not game-breaking. I don’t mind a character occasionally falling and floating through the void as the city looms overhead because I know it’s only a matter of seconds before respawning with no progress lost. 

To demonstrate my thinking, I loaded LEGO DC Super-Villains, as I initially wanted to compare how much bigger Gotham felt. When I went to fast travel in that game (a title that’s since been updated), the software crashed and “closed because an error occured”. I can easily tolerate Legacy of the Dark Knight’s more modest bugs when the rest of the game is so good. Well, except for Bat Mite. This character endlessly whines about how I haven’t shopped in a while, even if I just left the store seconds earlier. Some dev carelessness there.

The presentation is on target, with little (if anything) to fault. I heard through the grapevine there were some framerate issues on Switch 2, but I had scant. I played both solo and co-op, docked and handheld mode, and didn’t notice a sizable change in how smoothly the game ran. My lone co-op gripe is that when playing cooperatively, one player must always play as Batman. Multiplayer restrictions like this felt dated in the ‘90s, so I’m not sure what TT Games was thinking here. But that’s a gameplay gripe, not a graphic one. Visually, this is the most detailed, sharpest LEGO game I’ve played to date. The lighting is great; heck, even the load times are much improved.

Naturally, when discussing presentation, the other side of the coin (thank you, Two Face) is the audio. While the vocals are hit or miss, the sound effects are strong. But it’s the music that’s the star. I already mentioned how fun it was hearing “Partyman” by the late, brilliant Prince. You’ll also hear Seal’s “Kiss from a Rose.” The OST borrows from and is influenced by the Batman filmography, so you know it’s aces. Hearing Danny Elfman and Hans Zimmer-esque tracks in the same game is something else.

Regarding the LEGO M.O., the cliché can ring true: what you see is what you get. Thankfully, in Legacy of the Dark Knight’s case, you see a lot of great things. Despite the bugs, this is a refined entry in many ways. Don’t be surprised if your play sessions run longer than expected and if your interest holds well after the credits roll. If it’s been a while since you’ve played one of these LEGO Batman games, now is a great time to hop back in. “Like a growing addiction that I can’t deny,” Legacy of the Dark Knight is “the new king in town.”

To learn a bit about Legacy of the Dark Knight’s DLC, check out our Pure Nintendo podcast.