The LEGO franchise has mostly followed the same formula over its long history, but TT Games made massive changes with 2022's LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. From deeper combat mechanics to RPG elements, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga served as the culmination of TT Games' hard work on over a dozen licensed LEGO games. One feature in particular that stood out in The Skywalker Saga was its class system, which broke up all characters into one of nine distinct roles. This proved to be one of the game's standout mechanics, helping characters feel more unique than in previous games.
With LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga reaching its first anniversary in just a few weeks, many fans are wondering what TT Games will do next. One of the most prominent rumors is TT Games will return to Gotham City with a LEGO Batman 4, giving fans their first LEGO Batman game in almost ten years. If this is the case, it would make sense for LEGO Batman 4 to use many of the same game mechanics as The Skywalker Saga, especially its deep class system. Considering how plentiful past LEGO Batman character rosters have been, a class system would have plenty opportunities to diversify gameplay.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga's Class System Explained
Before LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga introduced its class system, most characters were unique simply because they were designed a certain way. In LEGO Marvel Superheroes for example, characters like Spider-Man could swing on a web, Captain American fought bad guys with his shield, and Wolverine was reduced to an adamantium skeleton when he took too much damage. In terms of more granular gameplay, however, most characters could do all the same things and complete puzzles just as well as every other. This means players weren't incentivized all that often to use a wide variety of characters, as about four or five out of the hundreds in a LEGO roster can get the job done just fine.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga added some much-needed variety with its class system, as now only certain puzzles could be solved with certain character classes. While Jedi and Sith could still use the Force to move things around like in previous LEGO Star Wars games, Scoundrel-class characters like Han Solo or Chewbacca now had unique puzzles. TT Games also introduced RPG elements through this class system, as each class had its own skill tree that players could upgrade to make each character within the class stronger. Overall, it added much more depth to LEGO Star Wars, as now every character with a lightsaber or blaster wouldn't feel identical anymore.
How Character Classes Can Shake Up LEGO Batman 4
If Traveller's Tales is pursuing a LEGO Batman 4 for its next LEGO entry, there's a lot the developer can do with this new class system. Classes labeled "Hero" and "Villain" would be expected, but Traveller's Tales could add further depth by including an "Antihero" class for characters such as Red Hood and Catwoman. For example, if there's a sequence that requires players to interrogate a criminal, but a hero like the Flash can't get the job done, an antihero could use more intimidating methods to get information. That'd add complexity to puzzle-solving and giving a wider range of characters more utility.
Traveller's Tales raised the bar with LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, and many fans would expect the developer to maintain that standard if LEGO goes back to Gotham City. DC storytelling has evolved considerably since the last LEGO Batman game, so there would be no shortage of narrative directions for the game to take. In terms of gameplay, The Skywalker Saga's class system in addition to its other innovations could make it the best LEGO Batman game yet.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
