The same year that Revenge of the Sith premiered in theaters, in 2005, TT Games launched Lego Star Wars: The Video Game. It was an immediate success and the start of a plethora of Lego titles with everything from DC to Harry Potter and Marvel – and even more Star Wars of course. And after years of pandemic delays, Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is finally here and offers all nine Skywalker Saga movies in good ol’ LEGO interpretation. And it’s as charming as ever. Let’s get to it!

Story

I’m not going to spend time explaining the Star Wars saga to you here, but rather going straight to the point of what the storytelling in the game is and how you choose which part you want to play.

The first thing you have to do before the adventure can even start, is to choose which trilogy you’ll embark on, The Phantom Menace, A New Hope or The Force Awakens. In other words, just like in the movies, you can choose to take on the adventure in a non-chronological order (I decided to play in chronological order). While it’s impressive how new and fresh this adventure is, it doesn’t take long for me to realize that it’s still a Lego game I play. Whats this means in practice, is that you’ll recognize yourself quickly as it’s certainly not about reinventing the wheel, but rather about improving it.

I dare say however, that those who haven’t seen the movies before won’t understand the story via the Lego Star Wars games alone, as they only contain a few lines of dialogue, short interludes and very jumpy narration to work in the story of the games.

Gameplay

In terms of recognizing what you play. You can once again shoot/swing yourself forward by hammering on a button and solve puzzles that often only consist of holding down a button while your chosen character builds Lego. You can find well-hidden secrets and become very frustrated with the ambiguity of whether you can solve a problem you are facing or if you need another character you haven’t even unlocked yet.

If one ignores some frustration about the ambiguity, however, I understand why the control is so incredibly simple. This is of course because the Lego games are in many ways children’s games, although adults will also have very pleasant moments playing this. The subtle humor and fantastic easter eggs that TT Games has hidden in this game is something that at least keeps me playing and not wanting to put away the controller.

But if we are to state that it is a children’s game, or at least a game that children should be able to play, it is strange how much TT Games has fumbled with the game menus. I actually think it takes a college education to navigate around without problems in the menus which is probably due to the game’s large scale, but it’s a big minus for the usability.

Graphic and Audio

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is a well-honed and incredibly beautiful game in terms of graphics. And audio / music wise, with the Star Wars license, it’s basically impossible to go wrong. In addition, there is now significantly more voice acting than in the original games (those who want to have miming Lego guys can switch to that).

Verdict

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is bursting with content, it has fun humor, varied gameplay, good graphics, a lot of secrets, great music and lots of fan service. However, it loses something in ratings due to the fact that it does not feel innovative enough, and has deplorable menus and a vague (jumping) story.

I recommend it to all Star Wars fans, or fans of the Lego games in general. Anyone who wants to experience something new and magnificent, can look around for something else, however.

Score: 7/10

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is available on PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series S / X. I reviewed the game on PS5 with a code provided by the publisher.