LEGO Star Wars – The Skywalker Saga review (PS5)

It suffered a few delays, but LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is finally here. Here’s our review of the game, played on a PlayStation 5.

The first LEGO Star Wars game kicked off an entire franchise for Traveller’s Tales, with games based on Indiana Jones, Batman, Lord of the Rings and various Marvel IPs all following more or less the same pattern. In the world of LEGO Star Wars, we already had “The Complete Saga” back in 2007, but that was before the reboot of the movie franchise saw three more entries being added. The Force Awakens received a LEGO adaptation in 2016, but the last two films in the Skywalker series of films can only now be played in TT’s familiar format.

It’s a shame that spin-off films like Solo and Rogue One can only be seen by way of post-launch character packs, but even without those two films this package has an impressive scope to it, spanning nine films in total – with the freedom to start with any trilogy you like, making sure you’re not waiting for ages to get to your favorite films. And as per the norm for a LEGO game, this one’s populated by hundreds of different characters, waiting for you to unlock and/or purchase them – so as you’d expect, there are plenty of LEGO studs to pick up as well.

Your choice of trilogy/film determines which characters you start out with, and gameplay alternates between hub areas and linear levels that are loosely story-driven and based on the events of the films. It’s a combination that lets you set your own pace, and lets you decide if you want to explore for collectibles, take on a new story mission or figure out if you’re ready for certain puzzles (which in some cases will require a particular character to complete). Because of this structure, it’s easy to sink dozens of hours into this one, as none of it feels like filler content.

Of course, part of that is the usual sense of humor that TT infuses their games with, with a lot of visual, auditory and spoken gags to enjoy – even for those not intimately familiar with the source material. It helps if you are, but the humor is strong enough on its own. And unlike the first “Complete Saga” release, this collection was made with the upgraded visual style of The Force Awakens, which makes it all feel fresh when you dive back into the original trilogies.

Gameplay-wise, it’s all very familiar, though the increased visual detail can be seen better because of a more close-up view of the action, and you also get manual control of the camera. And because the experience doesn’t feel like something that’s playing out inside a horizontally scrolling LEGO diorama, there’s even room for gameplay mechanics like third person shooting for characters with blasters. This feels like a given for the newest films because of how The Force Awakens was made, but makes a big difference for the package as a whole – as do some of the more spectacular sequences that were created for this 2022 reimagining of LEGO Star Wars.

Still, many aspects will feel very familiar to anyone with LEGO game experience, even if it’s only outside of the Star Wars franchise. Expect to swap between characters to solve puzzles and use abilities to fight enemies, do a bit of platforming, and generally have a fun time in a game that also supports split screen multiplayer gaming – though this is where the zoomed in perspective can work against the game a little bit.

Even if you just stick to the story missions, then you’re already looking at almost 50 well-crafted levels spread across all nine episodes of the saga, but with so much optional content out there to discover it’s likely that you’ll get a great deal of value for money out of this one. As Star Wars games go, this is among the most accessible and fun titles out there, letting fans and non-fans have fun together or solo. And with all of the LEGO Star Wars games (with the exception of The Force Awakens) being from the PS3-era, it’s great to have access to the former trilogies in LEGO form again.

Score: 8.5/10