It’s hard not to think of the Arkham franchise when talking about Batman’s presence in modern-day gaming. But obvious comparisons aside, we think that LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight might bring a refreshing take on a presence that’s as important as the brooding hero: Gotham City. A Batman game needs to nail down the feeling that Gotham feels dense, layered, and rewarding to engage with to sell the fantasy, after all.
Make it a checklist, and the city quickly loses its morbid allure to the tired trope of a video game map being filled with listless activities just to pad out its playtime. But when it’s done right, Gotham can make the Batman title move past its action and nostalgia to become a playground for the Bat that’s quite fun to inhabit. Can LEGO Batman achieve this? How would it go about doing so? That’s what we’re here to talk about. Let’s go!
The City Where Crime Never Sleeps
We’ve always wondered how Bruce Wayne manages to be as fresh-looking as he is with such a messed-up sleep cycle. But Gotham has never cared for its hero’s well-being, and that’s just the way it should be. Its streets and alleyways are the corridors of power for the city’s criminals, while its landmarks and industrial zones serve as stages for the eventual confrontation between Batman and his home’s more nefarious residents.
It’s a part of Batman’s identity, an urban jungle that he has learned to navigate with aplomb. That’s a facet of the experience we already know is part of the upcoming LEGO Batman, and that Gotham’s going to keep him quite busy this time around. But the real question isn’t about how big Gotham is, but how much of it actually matters to the experience. A smaller version of the city that reacts better to your presence in it should be the way to go. It would certainly be better than a massive take that’s largely empty, after all.
That’s where LEGO comes in. The very blocks that bring so many iconic things to life could do the same for LEGO Batman’s Gotham. LEGO titles work very well when their environments are a part of the fun, and Gotham City is no exception. It’s an opportunity for the game to truly make the city feel alive with secrets locked behind puzzles, different routes depending on which of the game’s cast you’re controlling, challenges, exploratory rewards that are available to only the most diligent of players, dynamically unfolding crimes, and so much more.
Batman’s gadgets could work differently on different surfaces or materials, while the same surfaces could be further utilized in some way, thanks to the unique tools of other playable characters. Playing as different heroes could, and perhaps should, make revisiting parts of the city you’ve already been to as another character an important part of the gameplay loop, encouraging deeper exploration and rewarding it accordingly.
Making Gotham a giant toybox full of fun things to do could make LEGO Batman find a great balance between its narrative’s more serious tone and an entertaining gameplay loop that weaves in the levity of controlling LEGO characters in a world built on the stuff. It’s always been a city full of possibilities for both heroes and villains, and we don’t see why that should be different this time around. Indeed, we’d even go so far as to say that Legacy of the Dark Knight should go above and beyond in making Gotham a stage for the story it’s trying to tell. But how could it achieve that?
No Place Like Home
Well, it could begin by ensuring that the city has a personality, a unique vibe that guides the tone of the game’s narrative and gameplay. LEGO Batman is at a unique crossroads of light and dark elements, and Gotham is the perfect cauldron in which they can be stirred to make the perfect entertainment recipe. A good place to start would be the city’s landmarks, some of which we already know are in the game.
Places like Ace Chemicals, Wayne Tower, and Arkham Asylum, among others, come with a lot of history and the potential for some thematic storytelling that make them more than just buildings on a map. Each of them lends Gotham its history, while serving as perfect places to stage a confrontation between Batman and his prey. They’re opportunities for set-pieces that are grounded in their past, while serving Batman’s efforts to create a brighter future. But in the present, as places players are bound to visit, they’re one way to give Gotham City its own identity.
Arkham Asylum is more than just a place for Gotham’s worst denizens, for instance. It’s rooted in a lot of Batman’s lore, and the site of several examinations into his own motivations and his psyche. Wayne Tower isn’t just a fancy HQ for Bruce’s day job, but the source of his extensive resources and the technology that enables his battle against crime. Capturing the essence of what makes each of these locations iconic is something that the new LEGO Batman would do well to achieve, immediately making Gotham the most valuable tool in its utility belt.
But buildings rooted in the city’s history are only a part of what could make it special. It’s what’s in them, and in the case of a superhero, how you get to them, that make the world you’re exploring feel alive in a way that calls you back to it when you step away from the game. With all of the traversal methods that TT Games has already confirmed, the latter half of the equation looks like it’s been covered pretty well.
But what about the former? Gotham’s rooftops can’t just be landing pads for you to use after a long glide, or a place from which you spot your next grapple point. The streets need to be unsafe because it’s Gotham, and Batman isn’t going to be too much of a superhero without his rogues gallery operating on those very streets. Each of Gotham’s districts should have its own feel and identity, and perhaps even come with stories of its own, all of which is up to us to uncover as we prowl around on the lookout for the next criminal we’re going to put away.
Batman’s vehicles should serve a specific exploratory function, making them all fit within the gameplay loop in a way that makes sense while making Bruce feel like a versatile protagonist who’s always a step ahead of those who would oppose him. Gotham’s the one-stop solution to achieving all of that, and more. But of course, a city’s only as lively as its people.
The Best and Worst of Gotham
Thankfully, the city’s always been home to a lively bunch of bad guys and innocent victims, and the fact that Batman isn’t alone in Legacy of the Dark Knight is a recipe for some entertaining outings as one of the playable heroes. It’s confirmed that the crimes you’ll need to stop are going to be a part of the adventure, while there are additional challenges, puzzles, rewards, and secrets. They’re all elements of an open world that make it click, but it’s the way that they all come together that can make or break a title of this ambition.
Gotham’s criminal underbelly has a part to play in LEGO Batman that’s probably as important as the one that our hero himself fulfills. How busy are its bad guys going to be? Will those puzzles require the deft use of multiple gadgets from our utility belts? Are those collectibles going to carry meaning to our hero, or are they just going to be objectives to dust off your map? Is Co-op going to make exploring the world more fun, and perhaps even include a bit of cooperative puzzle solving?
There’s also the question of the Batcave and the ways in which you can customize it. Will all of the things you do out in the city tie back to your home base, allowing you to collect items that can then be used to put your own signature on Batman’s hideout? There are a lot of questions that can only be answered once the game is out, but all of them are details that matter if it aims to be a Batman experience worth its salt.
The mere presence of the elements of what makes open worlds great isn’t enough anymore. Gotham’s role in the game shouldn’t be relegated to being a staging ground for the story and gameplay, but should be a place that actively rewards those among us who take Batman’s role as the World’s Greatest Detective seriously, allowing us to bring our victories home with us in ways that feel meaningful and satisfying.
It’s high time that Batman stepped out of the Arkham franchise’s shadows and began making his brooding presence felt in other franchises. Legacy of the Dark Knight doesn’t have to beat Arkham, but it sure as hell needs to make Gotham feel like a lively hunting ground for the Dark Knight. It could set itself apart from the games that put Batman on the map and find its own unique identity in the process.
Fortunately, we won’t have to wait too long to find out if it manages to achieve that. It’s almost time to suit up and hit the streets of Gotham, and we’re definitely hoping that the excursion’s going to be worth it!
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
