Gamescom Opening Night Live returned this year with a meaty 2-hour presentation. While it was a fairly strong showing this year, one of Gamescom ONL's earliest announcements stole the show for many: LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight.
TT Games' next large-scale LEGO project following LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga's release in 2022, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight looks to be the ultimate celebration of the Caped Crusader's 85-year-long history, with its 2-minute reveal trailer packing in an impressive suite of references to past Batman movies, shows, comics, and video games. But by far LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight's greatest source of inspiration appears to be Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham series, with the upcoming DC game virtually looking like a new entry in the series.
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight Is Taking a Lot of Inspiration From Batman: Arkham
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight's Arkham-Like Combat
Though fans only got a brief tease of it during the game's reveal trailer, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight's combat looks like it's following in Batman: Arkham's footsteps very closely. The minifig version of Batman is briefly shown leaping through the air, stopping to deliver a swift hand-to-hand combo to a goon, turning on a dime, and then leaping toward a new target, all in a very similar manner to Batman: Arkham's Freeflow combat.
The gameplay footage shown behind Geoff Keighley and TT Games Head of Development Jonathan Smith during Gamescom ONL teased a bit more of this Arkham-like combat system in LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight. Batman was shown countering enemies, performing takedowns, and vaulting over foes. Smith also mentioned that players will be able to use Batarangs to stun enemies and the Batclaw to reel them in. The trailer also showed Batman using an Explosive Gel gadget outside of combat, and its in-game appearance looks like a direct reference to Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham series.
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight will feature two difficulty options: 'Caped Crusader' and 'Dark Knight'.
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight's Arkham-Like Stealth
But combat is just the first layer of LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight's Arkham inspirations. This debut trailer also teased some stealth gameplay, with mechanics that, again, bear a striking similarity. Batman is shown using Detective Vision to highlight enemies through walls while he sneaks above them on a tightrope. He then jumps down from his hiding spot, performing a stealth takedown that instantly incapacitates a patrolling goon.
The extended gameplay footage that played during Keighley and Smith's on-stage interview also showed Batman grappling to a vantage point and perching there for a moment before dropping on top of an enemy.
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight's Arkham-Like Open World
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight's debut trailer showed just a frame or two of it, but according to Smith, the game will feature an open-world "playground" that players are free to explore. Players will be able to "grapple from rooftop to rooftop," "glide over the streets," and "cruise around in your choice of Batmobile." The brief glimpses of this open-world gameplay in the trailer also looked reminiscent of Batman: Arkham, with the Caped Crusader gliding gracefully over the rain-and-neon-soaked Gotham City streets.
It's currently unclear what type of activities players will be able to get up to in LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight's open world, but given TT Games' prior work, this LEGO version of Gotham is sure to be home to a plethora of collectibles.
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is set for release in 2026 for Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.