Ever since Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight’s reveal at gamescom 2025, one of the hottest matters surrounding it has been the surprisingly small quantity of playable characters on its roster. But developer TT Games guarantees that there’s an excellent cause for this.
Over the previous decade or so, Lego video games starting from DC and Marvel superheroes to Star Wars and Harry Potter droids and wizards have included unlockable playable character numbers stretching into the tons of, however in the upcoming Legacy of the Dark Knight, that whole at launch is simply seven. Those that made the lower embrace the Bat household and some mates: Batman, Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, Jim Gordon, Talia Al Ghul, and Catwoman.
IGN not too long ago spoke to the head of the TT Games growth workforce, Jonathan Smith, to seek out out why this quantity has been decreased so drastically by comparability. “We’re taking these individual characters on a journey,” Smith explains. “So you are constantly upgrading and developing new skills and opening up new abilities for each of those characters. Within the Bat family, as well, we really wanted to focus on making those characters really unique, making their personalities come across and their abilities very distinct.”
For instance, Batman can throw batarangs and use his grapple to help in fight in addition to clear up puzzles, however Catwoman can utilise her rangy whip and name in the assist of her kittens by triggering a laser pointer on a goal. Those similar cats may also be straight managed by the participant to grant entry to small vents and distract unsuspecting guards with a pleasant “meow”.
While the focus is seemingly on a deeper gameplay experience this time around, with a Rocksteady Arkham-influenced combo-based combat system leading that charge, fans of old-school Lego games shouldn’t fear too much, as Smith promises there will still be plenty to collect across its open world and movie-inspired levels.
“The story is more focused on a tighter roster of characters that are now more differentiated with much deeper gameplay,” confirms Smith. “So they work well in partnership with each other, and we then want to give you lots and lots of options to see the full range of what those characters can be by giving you more than a hundred different suits to collect. So you still get that moment in the Bat Cave where you’ve got all the different suits from all the different characters arrayed in front of you, colorful and glorious. You’re still compelled to want to complete that collection.”
For extra on Bat Suits, check out each one confirmed to be in Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight to this point, and if you wish to know much more about the recreation, check out more from our interview with the studio as half of IGN Fan Fest 2026.
Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can primarily be discovered skulking round open world video games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.
