Legacy of the Dark Knight Will Have the Most ‘Alive and Rich’ LEGO World Ever

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight‘s Gotham City will be the most “alive and rich” world that TT Games has ever made, according to the head of the development team. Fans will have to wait until 2026 to dive into LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, but some high-profile names are indicating that it will be worth the wait.

Fans got their first look at LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight on August 19, during the Gamescom Opening Night Live showcase livestream. In addition to the game’s reveal trailer, the presentation also featured an appearance by Jonathan Smith, head of development at TT Games, who explained that the upcoming game will be “the definitive essential Batman story.” Legacy of the Dark Knight will follow Bruce Wayne’s journey from childhood trauma through the character’s more than eight decades of lore from comics, movies, television shows, and games.

Next LEGO Batman Game’s Gotham Will Be Deeply Immersive

Just a little over a month after its initial reveal, Smith is hyping up the game again alongside big names like DC moguls James Gunn and Jim Lee in a new developer diary-style video shared by Warner Bros. Games. TT Games and its subsidiary, Traveler’s Tales, have become synonymous with LEGO video games since releasing their first one in 2005, and they have since developed more than 20 such games featuring franchises like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and superheroes from both Marvel and DC. But despite plenty of past successes, Smith’s comments in the new video showcase his belief that LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight‘s world will be more fulfilling than any other game he has worked on.

Reports from shortly after the game’s reveal stated that the next LEGO Batman game will have a bigger open world than Arkham Knight, and developers have now confirmed that that will be far from bland empty. Multiple team members featured in the new video have spoken about the level of detail in Gotham City, down to the realistic rain droplets that will run down LEGO character’s plastic bodies and the weave patterns of their cloth capes. But in the big picture, they have also striven to create an evolving city, with gangs of criminals that will learn to turn the tables on the heroes and plenty of callbacks to classic Batman moments.

The new video promotes more than just the game’s world, as development team members have also stressed the eras of Batman represented, the cast of characters, and the balance of comedy and drama as key focal points in the development process. Gunn emphasized the importance of Commissioner Gordon to the story, calling him an “undervalued” character of Batman lore, while Lee played up the selection of DC villains in LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, referring to them as “probably the coolest rogues’ gallery in all of fiction.”