Legacy of the Dark Knight Has Me Thinking About Another Game Every Time I Play It

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is out, and the verdict is nearly unanimous: it’s another fantastic licensed LEGO game. Audiences have praised its exploration, visuals, and signature LEGO charm, among other things, and I tend to agree. LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is pretty great.

There are a lot of ingredients that have gone into Legacy of the Dark Knight stew, including a good number from the Rocksteady Arkham games. Indeed, Legacy of the Dark Knight wears its Batman Arkham influences on its sleeve, especially in the combat department, which is so similar to the Arkham formula that it almost feels like an intentional homage. It’s cute and a little strange to engage with the Batman franchise in LEGO form, while being almost constantly reminded of another, radically different Batman series. And for as great as this new LEGO Batman game is, I’m not sure the constant Arkham reminders are doing it many favors. In fact, the more I play Legacy of the Dark Knight, the more my hunger for a new Batman Arkham game sharpens. Then I have to remember that it’s probably not going to happen.

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight Is Putting an Exciting Spin on The Skywalker Saga’s Formula

With LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, TT Games is taking The Skywalker Saga’s formula and putting a distinct and exciting spin on it.

Spoilers ahead for the Batman: Arkham series, especially Batman: Arkham Knight.

Where Is the Next Batman Game from Rocksteady, Creators of the Arkham Series?

Arkham Knight released in 2015 to something of a mixed reception. It got terrific reviews for the most part, but audiences also raised some gripes regarding its narrative and open-world structure, with particular ire directed at Arkham Knight’s use of the batmobile. Still, now that over a decade has passed, opinions seem to have softened a bit. Maybe it’s because we haven’t gotten a proper Batman game since then, but for my money, Arkham Knight is the definitive Caped Crusader gaming experience, warts and all.

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There were plans to follow Arkham Knight with a game codenamed Project Sabbath, which would have reportedly starred Damien Wayne in a Batman Beyond inspired near-future Gotham. At the end of Arkham Knight, Batman initiates the Knightfall Protocol, which involves him faking his own death. It’s not clear how exactly this would factor into Project Sabbath’s story, but with a Damien Wayne Batman, there are certainly a lot of possibilities.

In a move that many Batman Arkham fans will surely deem tragic, Project Sabbath was scrapped around 2017, and Rocksteady instead devoted itself entirely to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. We all know how that went: the Suicide Squad game was a massive flop, and while it’s supposedly a canon entry in the so-called Arkhamverse, it’s unlikely that we’ll see future development along the Suicide Squad lines. This could be a blessing or a curse for the mainline Arkham franchise.

The Failure of Suicide Squad: KTJL Could Be Arkham’s Boon or Bane

Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League Characters

The Arkham Batman is ostensibly killed in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, only for it to eventually be revealed that this was only a Braniac clone, and that the real Bruce Wayne is still safe, along with the other members of the Justice League. This is to say that the narrative developments of Kill the Justice League, as they pertain to Batman, don’t really matter in the grander scheme.

Note: Despite being more similar to the Arkham games than KTJL, Gotham Knights is not considered part of the Arkhamverse canon.

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What this means is that, much like the first Suicide Squad movie, Warner Bros. and Rocksteady can basically pretend that Kill the Justice League never happened, moving on to a new Batman Arkham game without having to remind audiences of a game they’d rather soon forget. Simultaneously, bringing back the proper Batman Arkham formula could be a way to claw back the goodwill that Rocksteady lost via Suicide Squad. Of course, there’s also always the chance that Rocksteady will never get a chance to redeem itself after such a massive flop, which would be a real shame.