The ignition of a lightsaber and the roar of an x wing engine can be described as nothing short of iconic. The level of perpetual excitement around the Star Wars franchise was, and still is, to say the least, unheard-of.      

In 2005, the newly formed Travelers Tales (TT) Games, signed a contract with the Lego group and decided to cash in on the Star Wars franchise with Lego Star Wars the video game.

TT Games would go on to develop over 80+ Lego titles including 6 triple-A Star Wars games. Including Lego Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy (2006), Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (2007), and Lego Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2011).

Each game amassed more and more support and players, especially from younger fans. When those same fans grew up, and those games came close to being forgotten, TT games came back to Star Wars to make one more game.

In 2019 Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga was announced. After multiple delays, the game was later released on April 5, 2022. Many of the original fans preordered the game, excited to start playing.

For those expecting the first Lego Star Wars game to be released in 11 years to be purely nostalgia-based, you’re not alone. Many thought that the game would only cater to children and original fans.

However, TT Games have impressed many outsiders with the open-world gameplay and incredible changes to the Lego game formula.

The story of the game is barely worth getting into, as it is really just a shortened version of the 9 main Star Wars movies, however, the gameplay and graphics are where the game shines. The animation of the story and player movements are so fluent, barely lagging.

For a game about plastic figurines, great graphics aren’t what is expected from any developer, because by their nature Legos aren’t all that visually appealing. TT Games took that as a challenge and did it anyway, majorly succeeding.

The way the different environments look is nothing short of stunning, the texture quality on the surfaces, and even the lego bricks are incredible. Everything from micro-abrasions on the plastic pieces to realistic sand physics on Jakku, Tatooine, and Geonosis.

The lighting and reflective surfaces of the environments are so well done, that the lighting can clue the player in on what’s happening in a level or even the galaxy.

On desert planets, you will see sand build upon the various characters and vehicles, yet another way to make a universe filled with lifeless, motionless toys feel vibrant and full of life. Not only are the sand planets stunning with those features, but the snow planets are the same beautiful fluent animations.  

The new graphics pair very well with the incredible open world. Technically it’s not truly an open-world, but it wouldn’t be possible for any system to support a true open-world concept with a game of this size.

In the open world, you can travel from location to location with a variety of methods. For traveling between sectors on planets, a fast travel service in the form of a taxi can be found all over the galaxy. 

You can use your ship to travel to any planets you have unlocked, when flying there, you can choose to land immediately or travel to the space around the planet. 

Once you get to the desired destination, you can choose to continue the journey with the main story mission or veer off the beaten path with a side mission, puzzle, or just explore.

When you enter the main mission, character selection is disabled and you are kind of stuck on a set path. Missions often contain one, two, or three different methods to complete a mission.

You can choose what to build, whether you want to engage in combat or not, and normally, what ship to fly.  

Missions can take place in space or on the ground. The controls for both feel fluid, the game feels very well playtested.  

This is an incredible experience for fans of Lego and Star Wars. This is a game I definitely recommend picking up and playing.