“LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight” is the newest LEGO game from Traveller’s Tales (TT Games) where we play as Batman and his allies in a story that weaves together iconic moments from some of the most popular stories in Batman’s history. 

“Legacy” is a pretty big change for the TT Games LEGO series. Like other LEGO superhero games, it tells an original story and features an open world filled with puzzles and collectibles. The main difference is that it narrows the focus to seven playable characters rather than the wide roster gamers have gotten used to. The result is a game that feels more limited. Even if many characters in previous LEGO games played the same way, there was a wider variety of classes and the option to choose who to play as that made the games feel more open-ended. In “Legacy,” every character has one or two specific abilities needed for the levels they’re featured in and for puzzles around the world, but that’s it. There’s no reason to replay any levels, and no extra secrets to find with another character’s abilities. It just feels flat compared to other LEGO experiences. 

“Legacy” shines when recreating famous Batman moments. The standouts were the car chase with the Joker from “The Dark Knight” and the homage to the opening sequence of “Batman: Arkham Asylum.” These moments crafted the gameplay and integration with the open world in a satisfying and fun way. Exploration is also handled well throughout the game. We’re given a relatively large version of Gotham to drive through and fly around, which features a surprising level of verticality and variation in structure and layout. Combat can also be fun — if you use the right character. 

The impression I got from “LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight” is that it wants to be a game that it’s not. Rather than feeling like a follow-up to other LEGO Batman games, it feels like a re-skinned, watered-down version of an “Arkham” game or even something like the recent “Spider-Man” series. LEGO games are fun because they’re a genre of their own — emulating another game’s experience in LEGO form defeats the purpose. And it doesn’t help that I have to buy DLC to play as the Joker.