IGN Fan Fest brought gamers/Star Wars fans a host of new information about LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga to chew on.
During IGN Fan Fest 2022 we got a brand new behind-the-scenes look at the eagerly anticipated LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga along with an interview with Jonathon Smith, Head of Production at TT Games. I’ll be going through everything we learned from both and what it means for this massive game.
Let’s start with the LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Developers Diary which you can watch first through the link below:
Characters
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga has over 300 playable characters, we have seen a lot of them but we got to see a couple more in the gameplay shown.
Sy Snootles and Max Rebo (With legs?)
While not a playable character, we also got to see the serpent that appeared in The Rise of Skywalker, which is an original LEGO design made for this game.
Art
A few pieces of concept art were revealed which may be our first look at LEGO Fathiers in the game.
Locations
While we have had confirmation of all the planets available in this game’s massive hub world, we got to see some new corners of them.
Jedi Temple Library (Coruscant)
Island Shore (Ach-To)
Maz Kanada’s Castle (Takodana)
Gunga City (Naboo)
Tatooine can be seen to have 3 separate hub areas including Mos Eisley, Jundland Wastes, and Mos Espa (It will be interesting to see how accurate Mos Espa is to its depiction in The Book of Boba Fett).
Capital Ship Battles
We have heard on multiple occasions that when traveling between planets there will be possible encounters with Capital Ships in which you can battle, board, and capture them. Well, we got to see this in-game with this video and it will be a fantastic and immersive part of the already massive game.
Extra Features
We’d already heard of the game’s Mumble Mode, but we got some footage of further options to use in the game. Most notably was “Mouth noises” which change all blaster and lightsaber noises to the noises of a person imitating them.
Also on the list are; Super GNK Droid, Porg Companions, Baguette Lightsabers, Galaxy Rave, Television Mode, Hologram Mode, Retro Mode, GNK Civilians, Comedy Weapons, and Rainbow Effects. At least a few others are just out of frame as the selector stops on Mumble Mode.
Now moving on to what we learned from the interview with Jonathon Smith where we get some brand new information on the game and its many features. You can watch through the link below:
Combat
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga will be introducing unprecedented complexity to its combat system. The combo system has been previously shown in gameplay trailers but Smith also mentions some other features. These include counters and mechanics built entirely around lightsaber combat in boss fights. To any Star Wars fan that sounds exciting, it will be interesting to see if this could translate to battles with other players.
Levels
Smith was asked how levels may differ or bear similarities to their counterparts, he reaffirmed the game was completely made from scratch with memories of previous games informing the creation of brand new sequences. “Everything here started from a blank sheet of paper and looking carefully at the movies and asking the question, what would be the best way to bring this action to life?”.
Each film’s story will include choreographed, scripted sequences but a large amount will also include exploration of the various open-world areas including scenes like Phantom Menace’s opening on a Trade Federation ship.
Vehicles
Vehicles and traversal through the game also came into discussion and with it the mention of a few transport modes we are yet to see including the Single Trooper Aerial Platform or STAP from The Phantom Menace. Smith mentions that there are hundreds of ways to traverse across the big environments of LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. With the many animals, land vehicles, and space ships of Star Wars, it’s unsurprising how quickly that number might rack up.
Co-Op
The two-player play has been a defining aspect of every LEGO game so how it will feature in this game is a big question. The dynamic split screen of previous games is gone and the game will use a fixed split-screen for all of its co-op play which can be used throughout the entire game.
Achievements and Unlockables
Collectables and achievements have been a massive part of previous LEGO titles, the strive for True Jedi, 10/10 Minkits, and finding every Red Brick drove many replays of every level in LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga.
The same incentive and drive for collectibles will be present in this game with Kyber Bricks, Minikits, and similar collectibles being found through the story and open worlds. This time built more into the Star Wars lore.
Open World
The galaxy will be navigated through a holographic map, there are 23 planets you can visit with a total of 28 landing zones across them. There are also sections entirely based in space, equally explorable from the safety of your starship. As the story progresses you will unlock various planets and areas dependent on the trilogy you play in. The datapad that you use to view your galaxy map and various other tabs will be essential to the exploration of the galaxy.
The closer to LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga‘s release we get, the more information we learn and the more exciting the impending release of this incredible-looking game becomes.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga releases on April 5th on all platforms.
