i thought this was one of the best lego games ever made so far. even though it has an open world to explore with side content and a few secondary missions, the campaign and levels remained linear and very fun, but despite keeping the usual humor and jokes, this time the story had a bit of an arkham series influence. i genuinely enjoyed the entire plot and was even surprised by the quality and some of the plot twists. they managed to create a pretty deep story, covering everything from Bruce's childhood to his training and eventual rise as Batman. you follow his entire journey and get a much better understanding of the hero's origins, assuming you don't already know them.

as if that wasn’t enough, the campaign is packed with easter eggs and clear references to other batman works, including famous scenes from movies and tv series without becoming a direct copy or feeling repetitive, they work more like tributes and the final result turned out really well. there’s also a huge roster of familiar characters, with many iconic villains from the franchise, ranging from the Joker and Bane to Poison Ivy and Killer Croc, although the latter only appears in optional investigations outside the main campaign. the only characters i really felt were missing were Harley Quinn, who doesn’t appear in the base game but will be a playable character in the DLC releasing in september, and Clayface, who might end up being added in a future DLC as well, who knows. as for the heroes, i thought it was really cool that each chapter focuses on a different one. even though you're locked into a specific secondary character during each chapter, it helps the game give more attention to each hero and their unique abilities and special attacks, including Robin, Batgirl and Catwoman.

by far the coolest feature in my opinion is the local couch co-op. like every lego game, it simply had to be there, and it made the experience even better and funnier. co-op makes missions, interactions and boss fights easier, but the best part is causing chaos together, or even making battles and obstacles harder by attacking your partner just for fun. i also loved the option to disable losing studs when you die, which made friendly fire even more entertaining and something that happened constantly. it’s a wonderful game that will provide plenty of laughs, not only because of the cutscenes and jokes, but especially because of all the silly moments and co-op shenanigans throughout the adventure. if you have the chance, play it in coop without thinking twice.

anyway the game has a good amount of content, around 15 hours for the campaign and at least another 15 hours of exploration and side activities if you want to complete everything. besides the classic hidden collectibles, minikits and red bricks, there are also challenges scattered across Gotham that feel very similar to the Arkham series. these range from challenging combat encounters to riddler-style puzzles and vehicle races, and just like in Arkham Knight, you can choose between crossing the city using vehicles or by grappling and gliding above gotham. i highly recommend this game to both lego fans and arkham fans, it’s absolutely worth playing, especially during a sale. it had been years since i had as much fun with a lego game as i did with this one!!

This is, by far, the best LEGO game ever made. As for a Batman game...? A very worthy spiritual successor to the Arkham titles. It does some things differently from previous LEGO games but it absolutely delivers with its mechanics, systems, story, humour, and gameplay. Before buying this, I saw people saying that this is the best Batman game ever made, and I thought to myself - how - it's LEGO? Well... now that I've beaten the game, let me tell you: it is the most intense love-letter to the fans. It is absolute fan-service. This is Batman.

The Good:
- Arkham-style combat, stealth, and traversal. Think Arkham Knight lite. Very fun and responsive.
- Awesome original story that covers all the Batman films. The last 2 chapters were nuts, if not a little predictable. A very faithful (albeit PG) take on Batman's story across various media.
- Packed to the brim full of Batman references and jokes, even the obscure ones. Not just in dialogue, either! For example, Ra's al Ghul says he has a "very particular set of skills". Why? Because Liam Neeson (who says this in Taken) played Ra's in Batman Begins. The Penguin says "so anyway, I started blasting". Why? Because Danny DeVito, who played Penguin in Batman Returns, says this in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Insane ball knowledge, TT Games.
- The world is extremely rich and detailed. The dark and gloomy spirit of Gotham is mixed in with the light-heartedness of LEGO, making for an almost oxymoronic playthrough that feels both immersive and fun, especially when the graphics look this good, too.
- An extreme amount of side content and loads of activities to discover. Like seriously. There's so much packed into the map and levels.
- Secrets and challenges everywhere. 50 Bat symbols scattered across the map, with no markers. Think of the feathers from Assassin's Creed II. There's also literal easter eggs in some of the missions. Nobody knows what they're for yet!
- Riddler puzzles that made me use my BRAIN!
- Huge variety of characters and gadgets, who all feel unique to play, with the slight exception of Robin/Nightwing: once I unlocked Nightwing, Robin was never used again. Sorry, ♥♥♥♥.
- Suits, vehicles, and character customization are in abundance in this game, and it actually feels fun and rewarding to try and unlock them.
- The driving is very fun and high-octane, although I wish the cars handled a little better for turning.
- The Batcave is HUGE. There's so many areas you can unlock, and you can also customize how it looks with props (found in levels/bought from the shop).

The Bad:
- Performance is very erratic. I had many instances where my FPS dropped from over 200 to around 40 (mostly while driving/exploring the city). It's more stable in missions but definitely needs more optimization.
- I crashed to desktop around 5 times in 45 hours. Luckily my progress wasn't lost.
- The game is quite buggy. I got stuck in a few missions because the game soft-locked. For example, I spent about an hour trying to figure out a Riddler puzzle; turns out I DID do the puzzle correctly but the frame-rate was too high to trigger the win. In the Jim Gordon Goo Gun tutorial, I used the gun on the target before the game told me to and couldn't do anything to continue (or even leave the mission).
- The 100% reward was extremely disappointing and lacklustre (IMO).

Despite the cons, I'm giving this game a 9 out of 10 purely because of how much fun I had and how much of a love-letter it is to both Batman and LEGO fans. I can't remember the last time a game made me laugh out loud. I can't remember the last time I was excited to play a game. Expect to do the Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme every 5 minutes. Yes, there's that many references.

I played for about 45 hours and beat the game 100%, including all of the achievements. Worth the money? Maaaybe not £60 (my CD Key was £42 - at that price, I'd say it's absolutely worth it) but definitely wait for a sale and some much-needed optimization/patches.

At the end of the day, if you love Batman and you love LEGO games, this is for you.

Thank you, TT Games.

ngl between this, 007 First Light, Saros, Pragmata, RE Requiem.... 2026 has been great for gaming!! cant wait to play more of this game!