How Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Could Shape Future Lego Games
One way that old franchises breathe new life into themselves is change. Every kind of game can add some new elements and try new ideas without abandoning the core elements that make the series great. Super Mario, for instance, has proven thoroughly that new ideas can turn out great. Mario's first break from sidescrolling in Super Mario 64 has resulted in all kinds of exciting, memorable 3D platforming games in the Mushroom Kingdom. Another franchise that's looking to try new things right now is Traveller's Tales' LEGO games. Specifically, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is totally changing its perspective on all kinds of core elements.
Traveller's Tales has all kinds of ambitious ideas for making combat more interesting and expanding on the overworld that'll make LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga really unique compared to any of its predecessors. It's no surprise that LEGO fans are so excited for this game -- there's so many new things to do. Fans should keep in mind, though, that The Skywalker Saga's changes to the LEGO formula mean a lot more to the franchise than they do to The Skywalker Saga alone. Traveller's Tales seems to want LEGO games to get bolder and more surprising. If those plans pay off in the upcoming game, then future LEGO games will almost certainly carry over the breaks from franchise convention and then some.
Combat is probably the biggest thing that's changing in The Skywalker Saga. Traveller's Tales has already shed a fair amount of light on how it wants to freshen up LEGO game combat. This element of the franchise is overdue for a makeover; historically, it consists mostly of nearly identical melee attacks and ranged weapons, with a few specialty weapons and character-specific abilities thrown in. The Skywalker Saga is changing that completely with an over-the-shoulder camera for ranged characters, letting them aim down sights in battle for more immersion and accuracy. Melee attacks, meanwhile, are getting a combo system that ought to make lightsaber combat feel a lot more engaging and empowering.
The Skywalker Saga's approach to a game hub is also on a totally different level from previous games. Most early LEGO games just used a small, simple hub like the Mos Eisley Cantina to host the game's levels, plus some shops for unlocking characters and extras. More recently, though, LEGO games for franchises like Lord of the Rings, Marvel, and DC have started including overworld that players can explore freely in search of secrets and sidequests. The Skywalker Saga is including an overworld on a whole other level. There's supposedly around two dozen Star Wars planets that players can visit and explore, which means there's a staggering amount of game to play outside of the game's already impressive 45 levels taken from all nine core Star Wars movies.
These factors and more -- like The Skywalker Saga's 300 playable characters, a number worthy of a search bar -- prove that Traveller's Tales is making The Skywalker Saga about bold changes and experimentation. It's pushing the boundaries of what a LEGO game looks like, and if it's going this far, it's not just doing it for Star Wars. Traveller's Tales is probably trying to reinvent the franchise's brand so that it can do similarly ambitious things with other LEGO games. If that's the case, then fans should look forward to new LEGO games with a lot of exciting changes.
There's tons of major franchises that Traveller's Tales has its hands on that could really benefit from the kind of treatment that LEGO Star Wars is getting. One obvious choice is the LEGO Marvel series of games. As Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe starts up, there's going to be a lot of superhero hype that Traveller's Tales would be wise to capitalize on. If it does, then fans can look forward to a game where Iron Man and Hawkeye feature a third-person camera, plus sophisticated melee movesets for characters like Captain America, Thor, and Black Widow. On top of that, LEGO Marvel fans would be delighted to use the Avengers Tower as a hub for traveling to Sokovia, Wakanda, and other familiar Marvel settings. LEGO Marvel's Avengers offered fans a taste of a game like this, but there's much more that Traveller's Tales can do.
Another series poised to make a comeback is LEGO Indiana Jones. The second LEGO Indiana Jones game wasn't a favorite among critics, but it deserves credit for pioneering open-world LEGO games and probably spurring Traveller's Tales to explore the format further. Indiana Jones 5's release next year and Bethesda's announcement of an Indiana Jones game have reignited interest in the franchise. Traveller's Tales would be wise to get access to Indy once again so that it can make an elaborate, detailed LEGO Indiana Jones game reuniting the whole franchise once again. Indiana Jones's signature whip lends itself well to a new combat system with combos and special techniques, and traveling around the overworld in search of long-lost artifacts between story missions sounds like a great time.
Traveller's Tales has chosen the perfect time to overhaul conventions of the LEGO franchise. For many years, the series has carried itself largely on doing its basics well and adapting famous IPs in clever, charming ways. However, a really important part of the LEGO franchise is constant growth. LEGO games have been getting bigger and bolder over the years, and The Skywalker Saga is only the breaking point where the franchise really blooms and changes. The series needs this kind of change to stay competitive, too. The video game industry is bigger than ever, so LEGO Star Wars can't count on name recognition alone to sell its family-friendly titles.
It'll be interesting to see how else Traveller's Tales changes the formula from here on out. Maybe future games won't stick to two player co-op, instead making room for up to four players at once. That would be a totally different look for the series, but then again, so are all the changes in The Skywalker Saga that LEGO fans are so excited about. While it's hard to say for now if Traveller's Tales' new ideas work in practice and not just on paper, they're certainly helping as far as raising interest in LEGO Star Wars is concerned. LEGO fans shouldn't be surprised if new ideas and big changes become the status quo of LEGO games for a little while, because so far, it's working.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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