LEGO® Star Wars™: The Skywalker Saga

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is a strange one for me. Overall, it's pretty good and there's a lot to like, but I didn't gel with it quite as much as I expected to. Visually, it's fantastic. The character models, lighting and reflections are a massive step up while everything still feels appropriately LEGO-y. The different planets look great, the voice acting is funny, it runs well on PC, and playing through abridged versions of all nine films gives you plenty to do. But in modernising the formula, I think it's lost some of the charm and simplicity of the older LEGO games. Those almost felt like you were looking down into a LEGO set and playing with it. Here, the closer camera, combos, aiming and cover system push it towards a modern third-person action game. Unfortunately, the combat sits in an awkward middle ground - more complicated than classic LEGO without being deep enough to make those extra mechanics particularly satisfying. There's also just too much stuff. The hub worlds are packed with activities and an overwhelming number of Kyber Bricks, which are tied into upgrading your abilities. There are so many characters and collectibles that I quickly stopped caring about completing everything. One other warning: don't buy the DLC expecting additional story content. They're just character packs. I got them as part of a bundle so it wasn't a big issue, but I had expected something closer to the story expansions from some of the older LEGO games. Despite all of that, this is still a good game. It's an impressive attempt at reinventing the LEGO formula, the presentation is excellent, it runs well on PC, there's an absurd amount of Star Wars content, and you can regularly pick it up at a substantial discount. I just don't think it's necessarily the definitive LEGO Star Wars experience you might expect. If you grew up loving the simplicity of the older games, particularly The Complete Saga, you may find that something has been lost along the way. As a bridge between the old LEGO games and the newer style, though, it's an interesting one. You can see the foundations here for where TT Games could take the formula next. Definitely worth playing - just don't expect it to completely replace the LEGO Star Wars games you're nostalgic for.