For almost two decades now, LEGO has been the king of the family-friendly video game market. While video game adaptations of kids' shows appear every now and then, and lighthearted puzzle-platformers like Sackboy's Big Adventure can release as a nice surprise, there is no company quite so reliable as LEGO - at least when it comes to producing high-quality family-friendly titles that are packed with plenty of content. In the eyes of several critics and gamers, the best game to have ever come from LEGO is its most recent release, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, which has managed to set the bar not only for LEGO games in general, but the family-friendly gaming space as a whole.
Releasing in 2005, the first LEGO Star Wars game pushed the boundaries of family-friendly gaming at the time, collecting the events of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, and packing them into a tight, intuitive, creative puzzle-platformer that can be enjoyed by players of all ages. Flash forward 17 years and LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga marks another gigantic leap for the family-friendly gaming market, offering one of the most expansive and replayable kids' games of all time, and setting the bar for all future LEGO titles.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Raised the Bar for LEGO Games
For the last 17 years, ever since the first LEGO Star Wars released, LEGO's licensed game offerings have been largely the same gameplay experience over and over again, just wrapped in a different pop-culture skin. LEGO Harry Potter, LEGO Indiana Jones, LEGO Lord of the Rings, and all the rest may boast different settings, characters, and vehicles, but each game tends to follow the same general gameplay formula. In the vast majority of LEGO games, players will be going through a series of succinct levels, solving light puzzles and engaging in simplistic hack-and-slash combat, then returning to an open-world hub where they can hunt for collectibles. While there's nothing wrong with this formula, it was about time that LEGO switched things up a bit, and that's exactly what LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga did.
Beginning development all the way back in 2017, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga had much more development time than any other LEGO game before it, and that's plain to see in the final product. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga collects all nine mainline Star Wars movies and packs them into a series of easily-digestible puzzle-platforming missions. While this is nothing new for the licensed LEGO series, it's on a much greater scale, with more missions than ever before and more varied gameplay.
Between missions players are free to explore the galaxy, and that's where most of the content can be found. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga has a whopping 24 planets to explore, with each being a fairly large open-world hub. Across all 24 planets, there's an eye-watering 1000 collectibles to find, with some being obtained through exploration and some being rewarded for completing fun little side missions. Players can unlock over 300 iconic Star Wars characters and vehicles, marking the biggest roster in a LEGO game by far.
While LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga's main missions may feel a little rushed in some parts, there's no denying that it's set the bar for future LEGO games. LEGO shouldn't just return to its original, smaller-scale formula. Now, fans will be expecting games just as expansive as LEGO Star Wars, featuring a plethora of hub worlds, a staggering number of collectibles, and an extreme number of story levels. It'll be no easy feat, but if LEGO wants to keep pushing the boundaries of the family-friendly gaming market, then it needs to keep expanding and innovating, using LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga as the basis.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
