LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight

1. Summary

95% of the reviews recommend the game, and the comparison reviewers reach for most often is Rocksteady's Arkham series. 42% of the longer reviews mention Arkham, and 20% discuss the combat alongside it, usually the freeflow counters and combos the game borrows. Reviewers also praise the story's tour through Batman films, TV, comics and games, the look of Gotham, the jokes, and a Batcave you can fill with suits and vehicles. 8% of all reviews call it the best Lego game or one of the best they have played, and a smaller group calls it the best Batman game in years.

15% of the longer reviews mention bugs, crashes or lost saves, and 10% describe stutter and frame drops on PC, mostly in the open world, while 6% say it ran well for them. Longtime Lego fans are split on the slimmed-down formula (a roster of about seven playable characters, red bricks that only change colors, no free play), and some find the open-world puzzles and collectibles repetitive on the way to 100%. Others think the full price is too much for a story they finished quickly. Fewer reviews bring up local co-op that locks one player to Batman, cosmetics tied to HBO Max, LEGO sets and Twitch, or the thin Mayhem Collection DLC, and the ones that do are angry.

2. What keeps coming up

What players praise

Arkham-style combat and traversal in a Lego gameHigh

42% of the longer reviews compare the game to the Arkham series, and 20% talk specifically about the combat: counters, combo chains, gadget swaps and stealth takedowns taken from Rocksteady's games and simplified for a Lego audience. "Closest thing to a new Arkham we're getting," one player wrote. A few dozen reviewers say they grew up with both Lego Batman and Arkham and describe this game as a mix of the two. 7% bring up The Skywalker Saga, often to say this game improves on its combat and level structure, though some compare it less kindly.

A minority finds the combat shallow ("Baby's First Arkham," as one put it) or says it comes down to mashing one button. Gliding and grappling have their own critics, covered under the split opinions below.

Humor that mostly landsHigh

Slapstick cutscenes, background gags and a script that pokes fun at Batman without turning him into a joke get most of the credit when the 25% of longer reviews that mention the humor explain what they liked. "The comedy is also top notch," one reviewer wrote. Under 1% of the longer reviews call the jokes forced, cringey or weaker than in older Lego games, and one of them said "barely any jokes land either."

A love letter to every era of BatmanHigh

24% of the longer reviews talk about the references, easter eggs and fan service, and 6% use the phrase "love letter". The story stitches together moments from Batman films across the decades with the animated series, the comics and the Arkham games, and Batman fans say they kept spotting deep cuts. "Every nook and cranny of celluloid Batman is put together in classic lego fashion," one review reads. A smaller group finds the story disjointed, says the later chapters feel rushed next to a strong first half, or notes that the opening tutorial and prologue take a while before you play as Batman.

A detailed, good-looking GothamHigh

When the 23% of longer reviews that discuss the visuals get specific, they point to rain-soaked rooftops, reflections on the plastic, and the mold lines and fabric on the minifigures, often with surprise that a Lego game looks this good. Several also mention Gotham's moody atmosphere, and one reviewer called it "the best-looking LEGO game to date, featuring surprisingly deep combat and a wonderfully moody Gotham to explore."

The Batcave and the suit collectionLow

Reviewers who mention the Batcave generally enjoy decorating it and filling its displays with the suits and vehicles they unlock from every era of the character. "The Batcave is a dream," one wrote. A few wanted freer placement, or more to spend studs on besides decorations.

A game to share with kidsLow

Some parents describe playing through it with their children, helped by the lower difficulty settings and drop-in local co-op. One wrote that "my 4 year old was able to play this with me." Others in this group say it works as a first Arkham-style game for kids who are too young for the real thing.

Where players are split

A small roster and missing Lego staplesMedium

13% of the longer reviews talk about how the game departs from the classic Lego formula, and longtime fans disagree about it. Critics list what is gone: a roster of about seven playable characters (with Robin and Nightwing sharing a toolkit), red bricks that only change colors instead of adding cheats and multipliers, no free play with any character, no stud bar or "True Hero" goal, and levels you can fully clear on the first run. "Red bricks, a stud bar, free play, mini-kits, collecting characters, its all gone," one player wrote, and another called it "a great video game. However, as a LEGO game, it sucks horribly." Others say each character has a fuller set of abilities and costumes in exchange; one wrote "i love the small character roster because i prefer quality over quantity." The complaint comes mostly from players with a long history in the series who had finished the story.

Open-world puzzles and collectiblesMedium

9% of the longer reviews call parts of the game repetitive, tedious or grindy, and most of those point at the open world: Riddler and Cluemaster puzzles built on the same few ideas, crate after crate of caches, and crimes that give little back. "If you're going for 100% get ready to do the same 5 things, hundreds of times," one reviewer warned. Some completionists describe the 100% run as a satisfying grind in a city that always has something to pick up. The complaint comes more from players pushing for full completion than from those who stick to the story.

Difficulty and hand-holdingLow

A small group finds the game too easy even on the hardest setting, where more enemies mostly make fights longer, and dislikes characters calling out puzzle solutions before you have had a chance to think. One reviewer called it "the epitome of hand holding." Parents and casual players see the same low difficulty as a plus.

Voice acting and stealthLow

Some reviewers like the cast, and a vocal group dislikes the new Batman voice ("Batman does not sound like batman"). Stealth sections draw praise for the Arkham-style takedowns and criticism for alert systems where one spotted enemy turns the whole room hostile. One player called stealth "a joke and not worth even trying."

Driving, gliding and the grappleLow

Some reviewers love tearing around Gotham in the Batmobile. Others find the cars twitchy, wish they could fly or sail, and say vehicles are locked to specific characters. The grapple draws more complaints: players say it latches onto the wrong ledge or misses the one they aimed at ("the grapple has a mind of its own"), which hurts most in the timed AR traversal trials needed for completion.

What frustrates players

Crashes, lost saves and soft locksMedium

15% of the longer reviews mention bugs, crashes or lost progress. Most describe small problems: characters stuck on geometry, a companion who walks off the pressure plate, keybinds resetting, puzzles that won't register. The serious reports are crashes that corrupt the save file, which several reviewers say wiped a whole playthrough ("There is a game breaking save corruption bug that happens on game crash"), and bugs in late Riddler and Cluemaster puzzles, bat symbols or time trials that stop players from reaching 100%. Save-loss reports clustered in the first weeks after launch, though a few still appeared months later, including after the DLC update.

Stutter and frame drops on PCMedium

10% of the longer reviews describe performance problems: stutter when traversing or driving through Gotham, frame drops going into cutscenes, slowdowns in split-screen, and some reports of memory errors and GPU crashes. Several blame Unreal Engine 5, and some describe needing upscaling and frame generation to hold 60 fps. "30 frames on a 9800x3d and a 9070xt at 1440p is unacceptable," one player wrote. Results varied by machine: 6% of the longer reviews say it ran well, and a few say it ran better than the published requirements suggested, one noting it "runs a lot better than the initial requirements they posted." A few Steam Deck owners say the missions run fine and the open world struggles.

Price for the lengthMedium

8% of the longer reviews call the game overpriced or short for what it costs. They point to a main story some finished in a weekend and a 100% run that leaves little to do afterward. "The game is great but imo not worth the 70 dollar," one wrote, and "wait for a sale" is the usual advice in this group. A smaller set of reviewers say the amount of content justified the price for them.

Co-op limitsLow

Players who bought the game for local co-op raise several limits. The one mentioned most is that player one is locked to Batman even in free roam, so one person watches while the other uses the character a puzzle needs ("my biggest pet peeve of the game is how someone HAS to play as Batman even in the open world section"). Other reviewers say keyboard plus controller doesn't work for two players ("You MUST have two controllers to play co op"), that Steam Remote Play Together was unreliable, or that there is no online co-op. Split-screen also brings the frame drops described above.

Cosmetics behind HBO Max, LEGO sets and TwitchLow

3% of the longer reviews object to suits and vehicles that require an HBO Max link, codes from physical LEGO sets, a WB account or Twitch drops, and some note these aren't available in every region or failed to unlock. The players who raise it are blunt: "Locking skins behind physical purchases, online subscriptions, and account sign-ups is beyond scummy."

The Mayhem Collection DLCLow

Reviewers say the Joker and Harley Quinn expansion is sold only through the deluxe upgrade, and it is reviewed mostly on the base game's page by players who had finished everything else. They describe a timed, repeating roguelite mode with very little new story, Joker and Harley who can't be used in the main open world, and new achievements that pushed completed games back below 100%. "Main game is worth the buy, the DLC is NOT," one wrote. A few enjoyed it as extra content.

Denuvo and online checksLow

A handful of reviews object to Denuvo, including Steam Deck and Linux players who got locked out when switching compatibility layers or couldn't play offline. "It can't stop piracy, but it sure can stop paying customers from playing the games they purchased," one wrote.

3. The player conversation

Much of the conversation is warm, and some of it is emotional: players who grew up with Lego Batman and later played Arkham describe this game as both at once. Many longer reviews recommend the game while listing problems, with advice to wait for a sale or to back up your save. Negative reviews make up under 5% of the total, and most of them point to a technical failure (crashes, stutter, a lost save), a longtime Lego fan's disappointment with the new formula, or a price that felt higher than the content.

Complaints about the slim roster, the repetitive collectibles and the empty post-game come mostly from players who had finished the story and were working toward 100%, and the Mayhem Collection complaints come from players who had already completed everything. Performance and co-op problems turn up from the first hours on.

Over time the tone held. Launch week brought 3,822 reviews at 96.5% positive, and later weeks mostly stayed in the low-to-mid 90s. The one clear dip came about four months after launch, in the week reviewers say the Mayhem Collection arrived, when the positive share fell to 85% as players posted about the thin DLC, the new achievements and, in at least one case, a save lost after the update. It recovered the following week.

4. What the developers could do

1. Stop crashes from corrupting saves. Several reviewers lost whole playthroughs to a single crash, and a few now tell others to back up their save files by hand.
2. Smooth out PC performance in the open world. One in ten longer reviews describes stutter while traversing or driving and frame drops in cutscenes and split-screen, some of them on high-end hardware.
3. Fix the bugs that block 100% completion. Completionists report Riddler and Cluemaster puzzles, bat symbols and trials that won't register, which leaves a long run stuck short of the finish.
4. Let player one switch off Batman in free roam, and support keyboard plus controller co-op. Couples and families who bought it for couch co-op describe one player stuck watching, and some needed a second controller or third-party tools just to start.
5. Give studs and red bricks more to do. Longtime fans ask for gameplay extras from red bricks, more uses for studs, free play with any character and more playable characters, including villains.
6. Make the HBO Max, LEGO-set and Twitch cosmetics earnable in the game. Players object to paying for subscriptions or sets to finish a collection in a full-price game.
7. Rework the Mayhem Collection and sell it separately. DLC buyers want Joker and Harley usable in the main open world, more story missions, and a way to buy the expansion without the full deluxe upgrade.
8. Tighten the grapple and add an option to quiet puzzle hints. Missed grapple targets ruin traversal trials, and players who want to solve puzzles themselves ask to switch off the companions' instant solutions.