All of the trailers, previews, and interviews have made Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight feel like a sort of successor to the Batman: Arkham games. Well, according to the game’s credits, that influence goes beyond just taking inspiration from the open-world crime-fighting blockbusters. Arkham maker Rocksteady Studios appears to have directly helped out on the game.
According to VGC, Rocksteady is listed as a co-developer on Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight in the game’s credits. Roughly 24 developers, including a producer and multiple designers, are listed. Warner Bros. Games Montreal, which made Batman: Arkham Origins and Gotham Knights, is also listed as having provided development support.
None of that is shocking considering Lego Batman maker TT Games is part of Warner Bros., and co-development between studios under a shared publisher umbrella has become increasingly common as the budgets and scopes for blockbuster releases swell. Still, it reinforces that Lego Batman isn’t just mimicking the blueprint for a sandbox comic-book adaptation laid out by Rocksteady.
It’s not just that Lego Batman has an explorable Gotham City that lets you glide off skyscrapers and hookshot over buildings. The game’s prompt-based combat is also very reminiscent of that in the Arkham series. And we aren’t likely to get another one of those at least for a few more years. While Rocksteady pivoted back to the franchise after Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League flopped, it feels like new blockbusters these days take five years or longer to ship.