System: Switch 2
Release date: September 18, 2026
Developer: TT Games
Publisher: Warner Bros. Games

In a lot of ways, Bruce Wayne/Batman is both the most relatable superhero of all time and the most unrelatable superhero of all time. Everyone grows up admiring him because he has no superpowers – no super strength, no super speed. Yet at the same time, he’s rich as hell, a leading light in the celebrity world, and a ridiculously skilled martial artist. He’s a character that’s been around for over 85 years in comic books, television, film, video games and so many other avenues that it has become impossible not to come across him at least once. After sitting down and playing this new entry in the LEGO Batman franchise, I was reminded why I fell in love with the character as a kid, and indeed why so many others have found themselves entranced by the Caped Crusader’s escapades.

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, as the title suggests, is a retelling of some of the most famous moments in the history of Batman media, particularly the Hollywood films, but also from the TV shows, games, and comics. All of these are strewn together through one connected, dedicated campaign storyline that consists of one extended prologue and six chapters. Character designs, levels and cutscenes take directly from the movies, including Matt Reeves’ The Batman (2022), Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy (2005-2012), Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997), as well as TV shows like Batman (1966) and Batman: The Animated Series (1992). Famous scenes from these films recreated in the game include Batman’s training with Ra’s Al Ghul’s League of Assassins, Joker’s big float parade through Gotham, where he intends to attack the city with his deadly laughing gas (Love That Joker!), Two-Face’s assault on The Flying Graysons’ circus performance which ultimately leads to Robin becoming the Boy Wonder, and plenty more.

What is impressive about the narrative of the game is that there’s a clear throughline of Batman’s journey from orphaned rich kid to the world’s greatest detective. None of it ever feels like fanservice just for the sake of fanservice; there’s a narrative reason for Catwoman to partake in the Joker Parade level based on Batman ’89, a film she didn’t appear in (Joker has stolen her money, she wants it back). The whole adventure has that brilliant sense of humor that all the LEGO games have when they are at their best, and the writers were really on it writing this script. So many great visual gags make use of the fact that every character is a LEGO person leads to a good laugh when they break apart, character interactions are very fun, the characterization itself is very good (Batman cracks a lot of jokes here, but he does in other media too. He’s not scowling all the time!), and the score of the game is stellar.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story campaign, and if you come in as a complete Bat-noob, I have full confidence you will still get your money’s worth with the story presented here. It took me about twenty hours to beat the game, though I did some of the side content which tacked on a few hours. I reckon you could beat the main story in 16-18 hours without exploring too much, but if you went after all the side content, that number could possibly double. Plenty of bang for your buck!

Gameplay here is heavily lifted from Rocksteady Studios’ acclaimed Batman: Arkham series, a franchise I absolutely adore. The way it flows typically consists of exploring different stages based on various Batman media, which players travel to in a massively sprawling Gotham City filled to the brim with side content to do. Gameplay typically includes light platforming, puzzle-solving, and combat. Batman and his Bat-pals all have unique weapons that differentiate them in gameplay, but the style of combat stays the same.

Different types of criminals will square up with The Dark Knight, ranging from regular muggers wielding weapons like baseball bats and stun batons, to larger enemies who will ram Batman over if he’s not careful. The aim of the game is to KO enemies through freeflow attack combos while countering enemies that approach you as you’re beating up another enemy. Some enemies, like bad guys with shields, need to be jumped over so you can attack them from behind. The fun of this combat system is that a combo counter will appear on screen for every hit you land on an enemy without interruption, and the bigger the number gets, the faster Batman moves and the more pain he dishes out. Successful long chains of attacks both reward you with LEGO studs, which you use as currency to buy Batsuits, Batmobiles and more Bat-memorabilia from Bat-Mite at his shop in the Batcave, and with a focus boost. Near your health bar at the bottom left of the screen, there’s a mechanic called the Focus Gauge, which, when filled, allows the Bat-family to unleash a super-strong attack that also grants the player a heart to fill up their health if they’ve taken a few hits. There are multiple difficulty settings, which can be changed on the fly in the campaign. These toggle lives on and off and change up the toughness of the bad guys you come across in fights. 

Characters have different weapons they can use to both solve puzzles and hurt enemies in combat. Batman has his trusty Batarangs, which can stun enemies if thrown rapidly together, Robin has the Line Launcher, which can tie two enemies together at once, Jim Gordon has a little pop gun whose ammunition bounces all around the place breaking everything around it, and Catwoman has her trademark whip. A secondary weapon also becomes available for every character, and each one feels unique and distinct. There was a little grumbling when people saw that only a handful of characters were playable in this game given that LEGO titles are quite famous for boasting quite a lot of characters to play as, but the reduced numbers allowed each playable character to give the player a unique and fresh way of tackling puzzle solving and fights. I welcome the change, personally. The game also allows for local multiplayer, should you want to form a Dynamic Duo with one of your pals. Some puzzles can only be solved by certain characters, and certain bosses can only have their weaknesses exploited by particular characters, but the player can change out who Batman has teamed up with on the fly by holding a button down to access a character select menu, so it is really not an issue. That is a mechanic I wish Donkey Kong 64 had. 

Speaking of bosses, quite a lot of members from Batman’s rogues gallery make an appearance here, from famous ones like Joker, Penguin, and Bane to more obscure ones like Condiment King, Firefly and Kite Man, and a lot in between. The voice acting is all very good, and though a lot of these actors are not returning from previous Batman projects, they all do a stellar job and nobody felt distractingly out of character – except for Matt Berry as Bane, but you give it a pass because it is very funny. 

To talk specifically about how the game runs on Nintendo Switch 2, I largely played docked, but spent a couple of hours doing side content to get a flavor of the handheld experience. In my 20 hours playing the game, I only came across three instances of slow down and frame drops; twice with fire environmental effects docked, and once when using the Batmobile handheld. Even then, these chugs were brief and the game immediately sorted itself out. None of these instances affected my experience negatively in any way. I never came across any glitches or errors. Load times can feel a little long, but with so much to load in the Gotham overworld especially, I don’t mind it at all. I can see this being an irritant for some players, though. Frankly, I never encountered any other issues playing the game. It all flowed really well, looked good technically, and ran quite brilliantly. The game is very polished, and the extended time the team took to make sure this game was up to snuff on Nintendo Switch 2 has turned out to be a very wise decision indeed. 

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is a borderline perfect video game. Everything that TT Games has set out to accomplish has been achieved tenfold. The team has somehow crafted both the best LEGO game ever and arguably the best Batman game ever (Arkham City just edges it for me personally, but it’s close!) in a single release. The game runs brilliantly, the content is jam-packed into the title, and there are tons of collectibles to find, puzzles to solve, and challenges to complete. The whole experience felt like a love letter to growing up playing with LEGOs, reading Batman comics, watching Batman films, and wanting to become vengeance and the night. Some might feel a little irked by Harley Quinn being locked to downloadable content, the relatively long load times, or the extremely rare instances of slowdown, but it wasn’t enough to detract from my experience even one iota. “Sometimes the truth isn’t good enough, sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded” is a famous Batman quote, but in this instance, the truth is that the people have their faith rewarded and then some with this game. Give it a go, because it is excellent. 

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight copy provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review.