LEGOgame fans have been waiting for the nextLEGO Star Warsfor quite a while now. 2020 was the first time in 15 years that aLEGOgame did not have a yearly release, due to the ambitiousLEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Sagabeing delayed multiple times. First set to release in October 2020, the last major trailer forThe Skywalker Sagaconfirmed it had been delayed to spring 2021. Now, just a few days ago, Traveller’s Tales has delayed the game once more to an undetermined date.This delay owes to the current pandemic somewhat, but also has to do with the massive scope of this particular entry.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Sagais set to be the largestLEGO Star Warsgame to date, and not just because it adapts all nine films. While the basic core established by the previous seven Episodes-worth (plusThe Clone Wars) ofLEGO Star Warsis still meant to be present, this game has been rebuilt from the ground up to bring the grandest experience possible to current and next-generation consoles. With the roster clocking in at over 300 playable characters, the ability to play the Episodes in any order, new cutscenes and levels for all the old Episodes, and even an overhauled gameplay system, there’s no question that this is the largestLEGO Star Warsyet.
RELATED:A May 4 Release For LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Would Be Perfect, But Unlikely
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga — Official Reveal Trailer
Despite the amount of details released for the game, not much has been revealed by the few largely-cutscene trailers. The first trailer, released June 9th, 2019, was a CGI trailer showing brief, humorous clips from thethree different eras ofStar Wars. Darth Maul is shown fighting Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, Darth Vader and Luke are seen having their Cloud City duel where Luke loses his hand, and the beginning of the first Rey and Kylo duel is shown (with Kylo being an even more blatant Darth Vader fan than normal). The trailer ends with the game’s title reveal, and its initial 2020 release window.
Official LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Trailer
On December 20th, 2019, WB Games and TT Games released a countdown trailer forThe Skywalker Saga, alongside the launch ofStar Wars Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker. This trailer is another cutscene-only trailer devoted to remaking various iconic scenes from throughout the films in the LEGO style. However, this trailer used in-game graphics fromThe Skywalker Sagainstead of the previous trailer’s CGI. The trailer ended with a re-confirmation of a 2020 release date for the game, which, as mentioned previously, did not stick. After this trailer, there was a five-month gap of silence before the game’s cover was revealed on May 4th 2020.
RELATED:Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Has Potential for a Lot of Post-Launch Support
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga — Gameplay Reveal
Fans finally got thrown a bone on August 27th, 2020, with the first true gameplay trailer released during Gamescom 2020. This two-and-a-half minute trailer showed gameplay and cutscene clips from every Episode, including things like boss fights, lightsaber battles, podracing, and more. There is also a firm confirmation thatLEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Sagawill be coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in addition to its previously announced platforms. ADeluxe Editionwith Darth Vader prominently featured on the box was also revealed, alongsidea young Luke figurine holding blue milkand a Character Collection DLC pass.
The primary focus of this trailer, however, was showing off the massive number of gameplay changes that had been teased in interviews for the past year. Gunners now have a third-person camera to manually aim their shots, and melee fighters have light and heavy attack buttons. Force powers seem to be able to be more casually used on groups of enemies, and lightsaber battles have plenty of pomp and context-sensitive actions to recall their source fights.
Vehicles also have different camera angles now, and starships can now be piloted freely in certain stages. Some areas also seemed to support more exploration than they used to in the previously linearLEGO Star Warsgames. Finally, thisGamescom trailer set the spring 2021 release window, which is now outdated.
Lucasfilm Games Sizzle
A snippet ofLEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Sagais present in the Lucasfilm Games reveal reel released on January 11th, 2021.Lucasfilm Games is the new brandingall futureStar WarsandIndiana Jonesgames will be under. Lucasfilm Games released a sizzle reel that contained roughly five seconds of newLEGO Star Warsfootage, which, while not much, is at least a sign of life. Aside from that, the rest of the trailer was devoted to other contemporaryStar Warsgames and related projects.
Currently, that’s all that is known aboutLEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. With nine Episodes covered, 23 explorable planets, over 300 playable characters, and over 800 character models total, this marks the most ambitiousLEGOgame yet. It even has the chance tofix some of the narrative mistakes from the movies. While fans are getting restless with waiting, Traveller’s Tales has proven itself trustworthy in delivering quality products in the past, and likely wants to make this one its magnum opus. The current release date seems to be stranded in a galaxy far, far away, but the end of this epic saga feels like it’s drawing ever closer somewhere over the horizon.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Sagais in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
MORE:Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Should Steal One Marketing Trick From Mandalorian
