LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight preview — the Arkham series returns in LEGO form
Don't let the childish art style and voices fool you; combat is more complex than mashing a button. Batman must dodge, counter, jump and throw batarangs at thugs to avoid death
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight doesn't just allow you to become the caped crusader — it makes you work for it.
The game is an upcoming Lego-themed action-adventure created by TT Games and distributed by Warner Bros. Games. It is the fifth edition in the Lego Batman video game series, with a unique tale inspired by films and other media from the Batman property.
The latest installment in the Lego Batman series, which is slated for an early 2026 release, seems to take the core mechanics of the beloved Arkham series and put them into a cutesy LEGO game with no remorse. The Mirror US got to play a 20-minute demo of the upcoming title at New York Comic Con 2025 and was surprised by how much it reminded me of a franchise that made me obsessed with mature superhero games.
Don't let the childish art style and voices fool you; combat is more complex than mashing a button. Batman must dodge, counter, jump and throw batarangs at thugs to avoid death.
The Bat claw also played a critical role is stopping RPG-wielding enemies from blowing me to bits. I could pull them to me from medium distances and deliver a surprisingly satisfying finisher, showing the Dark Knight uppercutting a criminal so hard that he fell apart.
In the demo, I roamed around a small section of Gotham that was rife with loot boxes, known in the game as Wayne Tech boxes, and glided from rooftop to rooftop. Developer TT Games added an extra layer of content by generating random crimes around Gotham City that could range from a break-in to a car theft.
The move takes a page from the Marvel's Spider-Man series on PlayStation that works pretty much the same way. This is a key break away from typical Batman games, as side objectives usually consist of repetitive fetch quests, chase sequences and puzzle solving.
The randomly-generated crime adds a fresh element to a Batman game and allows the player to take a rest from the main story and mindlessly beat the he-- out of crooks. The demo didn't include any gameplay with the iconic Batmobile, but I suspect we'll be seeing the high-tech tank in the final product.
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The Batmobile has only ever been made available in Rocksteady's Batman Arkham Knight installment that launched back in 2015. Nothing can be confirmed, but publisher Warner Bros featured a LEGO Batmobile right next to the preview center. Hopefully TT Games won't make the same mistake as Rocksteady and work the car into every other mission.
Honestly, I was very tired of Batman's ride by the mid-way point of the story.
The latest LEGO Batman game runs in stunning 4k at 60 FPS and will be available in 2026 on Playstation 5, Playstation 4, Xbox Series X/S and Series S and PC.