Lego games have come a long way from their humble beginnings, and Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga feels like an ideal showcase for everything they’ve been working towards. In the preview event we attended, we were given the opportunity to check out 50 minutes of refined gameplay from The Skywalker Saga. We have to say, the galaxy far, far away looks thrilling.
The Skywalker Saga features all nine episodes in the Star Wars movie franchise, excepting spin-offs, with the chance to select any of them from the start. You can choose to play through the Original Trilogy, go through the Prequels, and then dive into the Sequels, or start from Episode I and work your way through to Episode IX. The choice is yours, and it’s a freeing sight. This freedom also spills into the gameplay of each episode with multiple branching paths for you to explore as you work your way through the iconic story beats from the movies.
The preview event took us through the beginning of Episodes IV, III, and VIII, showing how dedicated the team was to the source material, primarily with Episode IV. It’s the iconic beginning of A New Hope with the Tantive IV being chased by the Imperial Star Destroyer, wonderfully recreated in Lego brick form.
Episode IV plays out as Leia, Captain Antilles, C3-PO, and R2-D2 attempt to maneuver through the Tantive IV to evade the Empire. Throughout the ordeal, there’s plenty of Lego humor that makes for a lighthearted experience, even for die hard Star Wars fans.
The gameplay was the most notable difference at the beginning with Leia, as it swapped to an over-the-shoulder view. Previously, Lego games had larger, wide camera views across the larger map, but the updated view brings you in closer to the action. However, the experience doesn’t appear too daunting to control, especially for younger audiences.
The melee combat also received an update with a combo system available to every character, even those who do not use lightsabers. You’ll see the combos on the right side of the screen, giving you the chance to mix-and-match choices to perform unique attacks, which were highlighted in Episode III with Anakin and Obi-Wan.
Of the three episodes shown, Episode VIII held the most exciting gameplay as it showed off space combat. Almost none of it was on rails, allowing players to fly around and explore the small arena to complete the mission entirely up to them.
After completing the initial missions in each episode, players would unlock a hub world in that episode that they could freely explore. Within these hub worlds were side missions and unique secrets you could find. You also have the chance to swap out characters from other Star Wars eras to use in these areas.
Not only was there a hub world, but space exploration was also available with a unique array of side missions and a large galaxy map. Similar to the characters, you can take the ships from an era and bring them back to the hub world to take up into space. There, you can explore the various locations visited in the game, and complete activities or missions you find while flying above any of these worlds. Everything you could do on the ground is reflected in the space hub, making it look like a much more impactful experience for players to consider exploring.
The preview showed off a lot of promise for a refined gameplay experience and even more from the open-world exploration outside of the standard missions. Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga feels like a massive game with a load of things to explore, all wrapped up in the trademark Lego humor.
