LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Review (PS5): ‘Reshaping the Block’

LEGO finally makes it debut for next generation consoles with LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, which aims to wrap all 9 Skywalker movies into a nice little blocked package. With series staple TT Games at the helm and the power of the new slate of consoles at their fingertips, is this the one of the best LEGO games to date or did anything get lost in translation. Read our full LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga review below to find out.

A Block Adventure From Tatooine to Temple Island

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga puts you in the roles of your favorite characters in their best and worst moments across all nine Star Wars movies. We are not counting the Han Solo spinoff in this, so just the core 9 Star Wars movies in wonderful LEGO display. I won’t dive much into the story here, as if you’ve seen the Star Wars movies you know what to expect and if you haven’t, then I am at a loss for words. While it’s basically a copy of the story, the game does a great job of adding some nice humorous tweaks to many situations. Each movie in the series is it’s own little mini chapter in the game. The first entry of each trilogy is available at the beginning, and movies 2 and 3 unlocked as you beat A New Hope,  The Phantom Menace, and The Force Awakens. Things move along at a rather quick pace through each different movie, with nothing overstaying it’s welcome.

Gameplay here is much the same as you would expect from a LEGO game, with some obvious revisions and additions to that winning formula. You have options between jumping straight in the story missions of each movie, or taking your time working through all of the wonderful side quests that each planet and solar system has to offer. Main missions in the game will have you destroying and building your way through each movie, collecting as many studs as you can. Each mission has 3 sub missions inside to try and complete, as well as mini kit pieces to collect. You will also want to try and hit True Jedi on each level by collecting a certain amount of studs. Combat sees a big shift this time around, as you can either spam the attack button over and over again, or you can use a different buttons linked together as a combo, giving you some freedom to play as you want.

When you aren’t tackling one of the main story missions, you can fly around to the various different planets to find new characters, complete side missions, and collect Kyber Bricks. Or if you are feeling the need for speed, you can take to the stars where you can fight spaceships, complete races, or find asteroids to destroy. There is a big focus here on experiencing the worlds below and the skies above, giving players a good feeling both ways. There isn’t a lot to do out in space when flying around, but what’s there is fun enough to keep you entertained.

Old LEGO Style Featuring New Ideas

I mentioned Kyber Bricks in the before, and that is a part of one of the big changes this time around. These bricks, which before might have been like yellow or red bricks, are now used, along with studs, to upgrade your abilities. In this game, you are in complete control of what abilities you want to focus on and when. For instance, in my playthrough, I decided to start with the a Bounty Hunter class upgrade, unlocking an option that causes enemies to drop more studs when they are defeated. I then moved my attention to core upgrades like Sprinting and building faster, along with the Attract Studs skill. It’s a great way to give people some RPG like freedom in building out their playthrough. You also have character classes, which they had in other games but this one specifically calls spells it out, with things like Jedi, Scoundrels, Villains, and more.

Force powers also see a huge increase from the previous LEGO Star Wars games, with those who are strong in the ways of the force able to take control of people’s movements, cause them to panic, and more. You can also pick up objects all throughout the world with the force, throwing these at enemies or just destroying parts of the town to gain more studs. There is also a new system here where through talking to people or using studs, you can unlock rumors pertaining to characters. These rumors help you locate just where in the galaxy you can find each character to unlock. It’s a really nice addition to the game.

The world here sees some bumps up in the graphics department as the best looking LEGO game yet. Yes, you probably aren’t buying this game to see how pretty it is, but they did do a good job of really bringing the world here to life. The camera didn’t get the upgrade memo though, as it is completely a mess when it narrow corridors, which is often. There is also lots of great added dialogue into an already written narrative that gives lots of humor to the story in areas where it might not have been before. The UI also sees a really nice boost in it’s appearance, bringing a really crisp feel to the game. I will say though, some of the menus feel kind of grainy, especially character select.

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Review: Final Verdict

LEGO Stars Wars: The Skywalker Saga does a great job of giving everyone the LEGO world they love, with some nice tweaks to the formula that’s been in place for a while. It’s not a perfect game of course, with some camera and AI issues, along with signature TT Games glitches that plague parts of the game. However it’s still a good game and one of the best LEGO games to date. Perfect for kids and adults alike, there is something here for everyone and enough to keep you around for a while, especially if you want to collect everything. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is a great first build on the PlayStation 5.