Traveller’s Tales is set to release the latest game in theLEGO Star Warsfranchise,LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.The Skywalker Sagawill be the sixth mainlineLEGO Star Warsgame, adapting allStar Warstrilogies into one title. It will bring players on a huge journey across the saga and let them explore 24 iconic locales while playing as hundreds of characters.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Sagawill be the most innovative LEGO game to-date. It will not only bring huge change to all Traveller’s TalesLEGOgames going forward, but it will also be the largestLEGO Star Warsgame to hit shelves. The series has seen much change both graphically and mechanically throughout all six mainline titles, withSkywalker Sagabeing perhaps the largest leap forward.
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LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game
LEGO Star Wars: The Video Gamelaunched in 2005 and served as the first video game in Traveller’s TalesLEGOfranchise. It adapted all three films in the prequel trilogy and introduced many of the franchise’s staples. Playersbegin the game in Dexter’s Dinerwhere they could roam around, check out their minikit collection, buy new characters, fight others, and choose a movie to play. Each movie was composed of six chapters, filled to the brim with studs and minkits to collect. Throughout each chapter players would unlock more characters to play as - 56 playable characters in total (or 59 if played on the Game Boy Advance).LEGO Star Wars: The Video Gameset up what fans love about the LEGO series, and for that it is fondly remembered
LEGO Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy
A year later, Traveller’s Tales releasedLEGO Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy,which adapted the originalStar Warstrilogy. Instead of perusing Dexter’s Diner, players got to hang out in the Mos Eisley Cantina. The game itself was pretty similar toLEGO Star Wars: The Video Game; three movies with six chapters each that players could play through.
It did expand upon vehicle levels and introduce a new collectable known as Gold Bricks, which unlocked rewards like a spigot that shot studs. It also increased the playable character count to 68 based on the original trilogy, and introduced a new mission type called Bounty Hunter missions which tasked players with capturing iconicStar Warscharacters for Jabba the Hutt.Perhaps the biggest addition to theLEGO franchise was the introduction of custom characters. Players were able to construct two custom characters that they could play around with, and there were over a million possible combinations.
LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
Only a year afterLEGO Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogyhit store shelves, Traveller’s Tales returned withLEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga.The Complete Sagacombined the prequel and original trilogy games into one title; the first iteration ofLEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. The hub world was once again Mos Eisley Cantina and every movie’s chapters are virtually identical to the chapters in the original two titles.
Traveller’s Tales even included two scrapped levels fromLEGO Star Wars: The Video Game. The character count was raised to 128 characters with many receiving reworks to modernize them, and even Indiana Jones made an appearance.LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Sagais the LEGO game that many remember most, and is often cited as one of the best in the series.
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LEGO Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars
Traveller’s Tales returned in 2011 for the third non-rehashed entry in its series,LEGO Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars. The game adapts the animated film and episodes fromthe first two seasons ofClone Wars,with the first level taking place duringAttack of the Clones. The gameplay stayed relatively the same, but it did introduce two new features to the series. First, scene swap allowed players to switch between separate teams in different locations to complete multi-part puzzles and boss battles. Alongside that, a new form of level was added that had playersfight battles with real-time strategy mechanics, building up bases and gathering troops to destroy the enemy.
The hub world forLEGO Star Wars 3: The Clone Warswas also a departure from previous LEGOStar Warstitles, swapping a diner or cantina for two warring cruisers that players could fly ships between. Each cruiser was fully explorable by all 115 unlockable characters, with the separatists attacking republic characters and vice versa. The game also introduced split screen gameplay to theLEGO Star Warsseries, so players no longer had to constantly follow each other.
LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens
In 2016, thefirst episode in the sequel trilogy,The Force Awakens,had recently released. Traveller’s Tales capitalized on this by releasing its nextLEGO Star Warstitle,LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This was the firstLEGO Star Warstitle to only adapt one movie, though it also included a level set duringReturn of the Jedi. The game introduced a brand-new hub world that allowed players to freely explore Jakku, Takodana, D’Qar, and Starkiller Base;the first iteration of expansive hub worldscoming withLEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.Gameplay was again similar to past LEGO games, but it did introduce cover-based blaster battles and large scale Multi-builds to the series.It also upped the playable character count to 200, including characters fromThe Force Awakensand otherStar Warsmovies.
LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakenswas also the firstLEGO Star Warstitleto include post-launch DLC. There were 12 packs in total, each one adding a set of characters from previousStar Warsmovies and shows. Some packs also included levels that told different stories connected toThe Force Awakens, like the story of C-3PO’s red arm or Poe’s escape from Jakku. While the game did not include the same amount of movies as previous titles, it did make many advancements to the gameplay that are being further examined for the next entry.
TheLEGO Star Warsfranchise has seen immense innovation and growth over its five titles.LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Sagais shaping up to be the biggest change for the series yet, and for LEGO games in general. If successful, it could become the definitive version ofLEGO Star Warsthat fans have always wanted.
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