In a few months, Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga should finally be out. LEGO fans have been looking forward to this installment, as not only is it adapting nine movies into LEGO form, two of them for the first time, but it's also completely overhauling standard LEGO gameplay. The Skywalker Saga is going open world on a scale no other LEGO game has tried, even those adapting LEGO-owned properties. Supposedly, that openness will be immediately apparent, with players able to fly across the galaxy to engage with the nine Star Wars film adaptations however they please. Even the basic combat has been changed to be closer to a traditional third-person shooter. After so many formulaic LEGO games, The Skywalker Saga is sure to be a breath of fresh air.
But the change shouldn't end at Star Wars. In Traveller's Tales' sixteen years of developing LEGO games, it has touched many properties beloved by geeks and gamers everywhere. Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Lord of the Rings, Marvel, and DC have all passed through its doors. However, one licensed property deserves to be revisited with The Skywalker Saga's changes more than any other. The Harry Potter film and book franchise may have wrapped up its main story years ago, but with more movies and an upcoming AAA game coming out, the brand is still going strong. It would definitely be worth giving LEGO Harry Potter a second pass with the skills and technology built up by Star Wars.
The Skywalker Saga's Open World Would be Perfect for Harry Potter
LEGO Harry Potter would be a perfect fit for the Skywalker Saga's new format. Formerly, most licensed LEGO games were linear, level-based affairs. Characters would move along a set path in an environment, stopping in various puzzle rooms and combat arenas along the way. At the end of a level, they would be able to either proceed to the next one or return to a hub. LEGO games adapting multiple films also had each film given its own section in the hub. There did come a point where certain LEGO games took place primarily in an open world, but it was late into the brand's life. When gameplay was happening, it typically happened in a straight line.
The Skywalker Saga is putting an end to that, more or less. The player will still be directed to chapters that bring them through distinct areas focused around set pieces. However, the wider game will be open world, and players will be able to roam the galaxy with their character of choice. Chapters will presumably be found on their planets of origin, and would afterward probably be accessible via a menu. Otherwise, players will be able to pursue whatever side quests or collectathons they want in the massive play space.
Most of the Harry Potter films and books take place inside Hogwarts, thus all of LEGO Harry Potter's Hogwarts should be expanded into a giant, explorable map that evolves over the course of Harry Potter's school years. Every room and story event can be found somewhere, at some point, in the game. After a film's year is complete, players could choose to reset the map state to a past film's year, allowing them to explore the many attractions of Harry Potter's world to their heart's content. They would be able to travel outside of Hogwarts as well, though it would not be an open world in the same way that The Skywalker Saga is. The many locations Harry visits over the course of his journeys are often far apart, though usually connected to Hogwarts in some way. Thus, Hogwarts would be the primary open-world map in a new LEGO Harry Potter game.
LEGO Harry Potter Meshes Perfectly With The Skywalker Saga's Gameplay
The typical LEGO game is a straightforward experience, befitting of their smaller development teams. One or two players take a party of characters through linear levels and solve simple puzzles in them. Often this is done by breaking and building LEGO pieces in the environment and performing light platforming. Sometimes enemies are spawned in, and sometimes other objectives are given, but this is what most of the gameplay boils down to. In all of the licensed LEGO games, this has held true. There are plenty of side paths and opportunities for replaying with other characters, and over the years there has been more of an effort to visually differentiate the massive rosters. Even after what little progress has been made, the four original LEGO Star Wars games now feel particularly archaic, with character types in combat boiling down to using guns, lightsabers, or any other type of melee weapon.
That core seems to still hold true in The Skywalker Saga, as it's unclear if the attention paid to unique animations in the Marvel and DC LEGO games will be carried back into LEGO Star Wars. However, The Skywalker Saga will be changing things up significantly. When combat rolls around, the perspective now shifts over the player character's shoulder. Players can aim guns freely instead of just using a lock-on system, and lightsaber combat appears to have been completely overhauled. The minute gameplay differences aren't yet known, but it's clear to see things are not the same as they were.
These changes could not be more ideal for Harry Potter. The focus on wands in Harry Potter's action means that the new aiming mechanics have come just in time. The cinematic duels observed in Skywalker Saga trailers also work well for the various climactic duels in Harry Potter, such as the times Harry and Voldemort have fought. A LEGO Harry Potter game could expand this even more, with spells unlocked over the course of the different films being added to the player's arsenal. These spells could in turn be used to access secret areas in past levels, or in the open world. The dramatic expansion of LEGO gameplay in The Skywalker Saga will definitely benefit future Traveller's Tales LEGO games, and with any luck, Harry Potter will be the first to reap what's been sown.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga releases in spring 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.