It doesn’t take long to smile when you’re playing a Lego game. As Lego Batman’s Dark Knight, you can grapple hook your way to the bad guy taking a sniper shot at you. Then you can start pummeling the guy until he breaks into a million disembodied bricks.
Or you can get yourself into too much trouble, being surrounded by enemies who can peck away at your strength until the bricks of the Gotham City hero disassemble and you have to spawn again.
There may have been a lot of people who were disappointed we didn’t get another Arkham title, but there were probably just as many who are ready for the comic relief of a Lego game from the legendary TT Games studio in the United Kingdom. Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, is the latest title in the 86-year history of Batman coming in 2026 from Warner Bros. Games, TT Games, DC and the Lego Group.
Those people, playing among themselves or with their youngsters, will get to crack a lot of smiles soon. After all, Lego and Warner Bros.’ TT Games have long since established that the Lego Batman games are truly triple-A content.
I played a bit of the game and spoke with Jimmy Sedota, assistant design director at TT Games in an interview at the Gamescom show in Cologne, Germany. He talked with pride about the success of Lego-themed games and is looking forward to showing people the sense of humor and inside knowledge in the script of Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight.
And he thinks of the game as triple-A content, made harder to create because it has to be funny. Players will have to master Bat-gadgets such as Batarangs to distract or stun enemies and the Batclaw to reel them in.
Partner characters have their own signature gear, including Jim Gordon’s foam sprayer, Robin’s line launcher, and Catwoman’s whip, providing a variety of options to approach every enemy encounter and boss battle. The game will be made harder with a gallery of DC Super-Villains, including The Joker, The Penguin, Poison Ivy, Ra’s al Ghul, Bane, and more.
For those looking for a tougher playthrough, Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knightgoes beyond the familiar Lego game experience with the new Caped Crusader enhanced difficulty setting and an even more challenging Dark Knight difficulty level.
And Batman has many sides, as the wrathful Dark Knight, the young Bruce Wayne, the brilliant detective and gadget creator, or the unlikely father of the “Batfam.” That game will cover much of that content.
The title will debut on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2 system, and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store. Wishlisting for the game has started. Players can play the Caped Crusader in solo mode or in two-player local co-op mode.
Here’s an edited transcript of our interview.
GamesBeat: Where are you based?
Jimmy Sedota: I’m in the U.K. The whole team is. Most of the team is in Knutsford, and then we have some people remote.
GamesBeat: I take it you’ve worked on this for a while.
Sedota: We don’t talk too much about how long it’s been in development, but we’ve been hard at work. We wanted to create an experience that allowed players to go through all the different decades of Batman lore. We’ve taken all these iconic moments from film and TV and video games, of course comics, and told our own unique story, our own retelling of the Batman legend. That was a big thing for us: crafting our own story, but referencing all these amazing bits of media and lore.
We reference Dark Knight. We reference The Batman. We reference Batman 1989. The ‘60s show, the animated series, the Year One comics, and some of the video games. Even our own previous Lego Batman games. A lot of different films and media.
GamesBeat: Almost an encyclopedic approach.
Sedota: It is. It’s almost a mashup, a remix of all these great tellings of the story.
GamesBeat: But it’s a Lego story.
Sedota: Putting that TT humor and twists on these known references is a lot of fun. Being able to make things that are family-friendly, but funny. It’s something I enjoy about working on this project. It’s a bit lighter in tone. It’s fun to work on a project like this.
GamesBeat: What are some examples of this, some things that happen?
Sedota: With the gameplay, when you sneak around as Batman and you’re fighting all these enemies, and then you pull out a frying pan and hit them over the head. Things like that that are lighter, almost slapstick at times. It allows us to provide the experience of being Batman, but in a way that’s still light and funny. Of course the cinematics and cutscenes have tons of humor. All kinds of jokes and gags.
GamesBeat: You can get around quite a lot. You can fly. You have the grappling hook. It seems like you can get yourself into trouble and then get back out of it pretty easily.
Sedota: We focused a lot on the mechanics of traversal. Being able to grapple and glide. Driving the Batmobile. And then of course the combat. We wanted people to be able to express themselves. Give them different ways to get around the city, do the missions, and fight crime.
GamesBeat: Are the missions very tightly focused as to what the players are required to do, or is it a more open approach?
Sedota: In the open world, we have some story that takes place in the open world. That’s a bit more open-ended. Still directed, with clear objectives. But then a lot of the missions will take place in levels, like the Ace Chemicals mission. There’s still a lot to explore: hidden collectibles, Easter eggs all around. But it’s a bit more of an authored experience, a bit more linear in some regards, so the player has clear goals and a clear path to take.
GamesBeat: Where does the story begin in the lore?
Sedota: We start as Bruce Wayne. You’ll train with the League of Shadows. I love that as Bruce in the story is learning how to do combat, learning all these abilities, the player learns at the same time. Then of course you return to Gotham City pretty quickly. You put on the cowl, put on the cape, and then Batman continues to grow. A lot of it is about befriending Jim Gordon and Catwoman and Batgirl and Robin and Nightwing. Building the Bat-family out over the course of the game.
GamesBeat: Do you miss some of the seriousness of the Arkham games?
Sedota: I love working at TT, working on Lego, working on lighter-toned games. I’ve worked on some pretty serious games in the past, but I really like things being a bit lighter. For me personally, it’s an amazing place to work and an amazing type of game to work on.
GamesBeat: Do you still think of this as triple-A, or is it something different?
Sedota: I definitely think of it as triple-A. We’re trying to compete with all the other great games out there. We use Unreal, a triple-A engine. It allows us to show amazing graphics and great gameplay. I definitely feel like we’re triple-A. I hope that shows when you play it.
GamesBeat: How long an experience do you want it to be? Does the player complete a particular story, or a bunch of stories?
Sedota: We have the main story campaign. Of course it varies a bit depending on how much you explore, how much time you spend smashing Lego and doing optional gameplay. But it’s about 15-ish hours for that main story campaign. Then we have another 15 or so hours in the open world doing side quests and activities that aren’t required for the main story, but allow you to collect things and explore Gotham.
GamesBeat: If there are people you need to convince to play this, who haven’t tried one of TT’s Lego games before, or who maybe aren’t into the lighter side of Batman, what’s the argument?
Sedota: We want to make a game that everyone can enjoy. Obviously we’re family-friendly. We want kids to play. We want families to play together. But we have a new difficulty setting, so you can play in Classic mode, with a more casual combat experience, all the way up to Dark Knight mode, which is actually pretty high skill for hardcore gamers. We try to provide a lot of depth in our combat and our gameplay, but in an accessible way that’s still not too complicated on the controller. For players that are new to Lego or new to our games, the story, the tone, it’s all very fun. Players can enjoy that. They can customize the experience a bit to suit what they like.
Every character has unique gadgets and abilities. As you progress through the game and unlock different characters, they all provide a different gameplay experience. That works well with Batman. All these different characters added in provide a fresh experience as you go through the main story. For me that’s one thing I’m really excited about.
GamesBeat: And it’s some time in 2026?
Sedota: Yes, 2026.
Disclosure: Gamescom paid my way to Cologne.