After multiple delays, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is finally here. However, were the delays in vain? In short, no. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is one of the most ambitious games in the series and its extra time in development shows signs that all the hard work has paid off.

If you’ve played any previous LEGO games, then you will pretty much know what you’re getting here. Easy to pick up and play action, plenty of unlockables and secrets. Not to mention the signature humour of TT Games. However, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga brings forth a new bag of tricks.

So, rather than talking about what we already know about the LEGO video game franchise, for now at least, let’s focus on what’s new. For starters, while the button-bashing gameplay remains intact, you can now string together a series of combos.

lego star wars review

Credit: TT Games/WB Games

Pulling off combos not only looks good, especially when wielding a lightsaber, but the longest strung combos will reward you with some bonus studs, which are of course used for purchasing unlockables. For example, when in control of a Jedi or Sith, you can put together light and heavy combos with Force powers thrown into the mix.

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga also features a massive open world. If memory serves me correctly, the first time the LEGO series went into the open-world format was with LEGO Lord of the Rings in 2012. LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens also adopted an open-world formula in 2016. However, the open world in LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga has been taken to the next level.

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is split into three trilogies, the Prequel Trilogy, the Original Trilogy and finally the Sequel Trilogy. While you can’t play any movie adaptation in any mixed order, you can however select which trilogy you want to begin. Though if you really are an agent of chaos, you can play the opening movie of each trilogy if you please, before moving on to the respective sequels. Personally, as I liked to keep things in order, I began with the Prequel trilogy, before moving on to each chronological movie order.

lego star wars review

Credit: TT Games/WB Games

That being said, at least compared to other LEGO games, Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is huge. When you begin your campaign, you will be greeted with a galaxy open hub featuring just about every Star Wars planet in existence. Tatooine, Kashyyyk, Hoth, D’Qar, Naboo and much more. Each planet will be packed full of secrets, side-quests, and easter eggs galore (though not of the chocolate variety).

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga also boasts the largest playable roster in the series’ history, featuring a whopping 380 characters as well as 119 vehicles. Unfortunately, it has to be said that unlike some previous games in the LEGO series, Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga does not include character customisation. Though to be fair, with the number of characters and vehicles that come bundled with LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, I’ll give it a pass.

When LEGO Lord of the Rings was released in 2012, it was the first game to feature real voice actors. However, while Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga’s dialogue isn’t ripped straight from the movies, some impersonating voice actors do fill some voids. However, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga pays homage to the LEGO games that came before Lord of the Rings by offering the option of a Mumble mode. So, not only can you choose real voice actors to tell the stories, but you can also opt for good old LEGO mumbling.

lego star wars review

Credit: TT Games/WB Games

Visually, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is also quite a looker, even for a LEGO game. To be fair, despite its simplistic nature, I’ve always thought that LEGO games look quite decent visually. However, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga looks better than any LEGO game that came before. Everything is wonderfully plastic and shiny. On new-gen consoles, you can even choose between 30 frames-per-second and 60 frames-per-second.

Before my review concludes, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is not without some flaws. On at least a couple of occasions, I have encountered crashes and even a blacked-out screen with the dialogue still playing. The latter of which stopped me from progressing, and I had to restart the game.

Thankfully, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga does have a decent auto-save feature, so at least I didn’t have to restart the whole level and the Gold bricks I discovered were still accounted for. There is also no online co-op, which is a shame. Though you can play good old local co-op at least.

To conclude, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga may be a simplistic game by nature, but it might surprise you with its level of depth. Not only can you play every mainline movie in the movie franchise (plus spin-off movies and TV series’ with paid DLC), but there’s a plethora of extra content to keep you coming back for more.

As with just about every LEGO game released, it doesn’t matter how old or young you are, no video game franchise is accessible for all ages and skill levels quite like the TT Games adaptations. Simply put, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is not only the best LEGO game of all time, but it’s also the best Star Wars game in years.