LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga has gone gold, which is fantastic news. At long last, fans no longer have to worry about Traveller's Tales' ambitious LEGO Star Wars title getting delayed once more. The game took about a year and a half longer than expected, but soon fans will have their hands on LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. The release has been a long time coming, and while the impending launch is worth celebrating, The Skywalker Saga's release begs the question of what could be next for Traveller's Tales' line of licensed LEGO games. That question includes The Skywalker Saga itself.
Although The Skywalker Saga is finished, Traveller's Tales may not be through working on it overall. Fans know that the game will launch with several DLC character packs available, but more importantly, there's always a chance that Traveller's Tales will work on some richer DLC for the game. It certainly ought to; while The Skywalker Saga unites the stories of all nine core Star Wars films, it misses out on a lot of Star Wars stories that could generate some highly compelling story levels and overworld planets. Rather than starting work on another LEGO Star Wars game, Traveller's Tales should consider producing more DLC for The Skywalker Saga.
Possible DLC for The Skywalker Saga
The confirmed DLC packs for The Skywalker Saga are definitely nothing to sneeze at. They may not come with extra levels, but they offer representation for a ton of influential Star Wars stories from recent history. Represented among the DLC packs are The Mandalorian's first and second seasons, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and Star Wars: The Bad Batch. These shows and movies are filled with characters who have no presence in the core Star Wars saga, so the DLC will really help The Skywalker Saga capture the vast web of Star Wars stories.
Still, these shows and movies, as well as others like Star Wars: The Clone Wars, have much more to offer The Skywalker Saga than playable characters alone. Ideally, Traveller's Tales will whip up some story levels that retell iconic moments from each of these stories. Whether players fight to protect The Mandalorian's Grogu, or leap into battle against Count Dooku in an episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, there's no shortage of potential story levels that Traveller's Tales could create. Even if each Star Wars show or film only gets one level, it'd work wonders to show just how much the Star Wars universe has grown since its inception.
Outside of levels, it'd be great to see Traveller's Tales add some additional planets to The Skywalker Saga's overworld. Just like how many Star Wars characters don't appear in the main Star Wars movies, there are all kinds of interesting planets that won't appear in The Skywalker Saga's vast model of the galaxy. Players might battle Separatist droids in Christophsis' skyscrapers, retrace Han Solo's steps on the streets of Corellia, or delve into a spice mine on Kessel. Adding these worlds to The Skywalker Saga would be a great way to show how the Skywalker family's story only scrapes the surface of the greater Star Wars universe.
Good Cause for LEGO Star Wars DLC
Level and planet DLC for LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga could serve as valuable buffers between The Skywalker Saga and the next LEGO Traveller's Tales game. If The Skywalker Saga's ambitious new features live up to expectations, then they'll undoubtedly create major demand for another LEGO game. While there's no way Traveller's Tales can produce another game like The Skywalker Saga within a year of the original game, smaller DLC can help Traveller's Tales get some extra mileage out of hype for The Skywalker Saga, buying time for its next game.
DLC would also be valuable as a transition away from LEGO Star Wars and into another type of licensed LEGO game. Traveller's Tales probably doesn't want to make another LEGO Star Wars game right now after spending so much time working on The Skywalker Saga, so instead of trying to develop LEGO Star Wars: The Clone Wars or LEGO The Mandalorian, it could produce some DLC levels for these stories, striking a balance between satisfying fan demand for Star Wars content and winding down LEGO Star Wars work ahead of a new project based on a different IP.
It's definitely a shame to think that great Star Wars media like The Clone Wars, The Mandalorian, and Rogue One likely won't get their own LEGO Star Wars games anytime soon, especially with The Skywalker Saga's mechanical innovations in mind, but fans should remain patient. LEGO Star Wars is arguably the backbone of Traveller's Tales' LEGO franchise, meaning the studio will inevitably return to the Star Wars universe in due time. With the nine main Star Wars movies already assembled, the next LEGO Star Wars game will almost certainly be based on one or more of these other shows and movies. It'll just take some time to release.
A Long-Lived Skywalker Saga DLC Series
While more Skywalker Saga DLC would be great, Traveller's Tales shouldn't rush to deliver one. According to recent reports, The Skywalker Saga's developers have experienced serious crunch in recent history. Traveller's Tales needs to give its developers time to rest, and any additional Skywalker Saga DLC ought to be developed under a more measured, healthy schedule. The Skywalker Saga looks like an incredible game, but it's terrible to hear that developers suffered in order to make it possible.
Traveller's Tales has little reason to rush additional concent for The Skywalker Saga anyhow. The scale of its overworld, the sheer number of story levels, and the long list of collectibles that The Skywalker Saga offers will probably keep LEGO Star Wars fans busy for a long time. Instead of hurrying to provide fans with more content, Traveller's Tales would be wise to weave new levels and planets into The Skywalker Saga over the proceeding months. The upcoming LEGO Star Wars game looks like a groundbreaking Star Wars experience, so hopefully Traveller's Tales celebrates that by adding on even more Star Wars experiences over a long period time.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga releases on April 5, 2022, for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
