Just yesterday marked the release of a new trailer revealing that the next outing in the long-running and beloved LEGO game series from Traveller’s Tales: LEGO DC Super Villains.
While cinematic, the trailer does shed some light on what fans might expect from the game that’s currently set to drop on October 17th of this year:
First and foremost is the inclusion of a number of characters who were practically guaranteed inclusions in a game all about DC’s villainous cast: Superman, The Joker, Harley Quin, Poison Ivy and Zoom all make appearances in one form or another. Second is the return of the traditional and beloved LEGO aesthetic, with cars and characters built in their traditional brick-by-brick fashion. The trailer also features the return of environments only partially built by LEGO bricks: Police cars and mini-figures look like something straight out of a LEGO set, but buildings and a large stone Superman statue appear to be constructed out of more conventional materials. This is nothing new, however; every LEGO game except for the game based on the LEGO Movie featured this aesthetic style, but its something that many longtime fans of the games have been hoping to see changed or at least iterated upon. But keeping the environments only half-LEGO might go beyond a simple Aesthetic decision: From a gameplay perspective, it’s more immediately obvious what a player can and can’t interact with if everything that can be destroyed, used, or thrown around is made of LEGO bricks, while the rest of the environment is not.
Speaking of gameplay perspectives, the end of the trailer hints that this LEGO game will be taking steps to enhance the creativity of the player experience by giving greater focus to character customization. The trailer depicts an average-looking LEGO prisoner ripping the bars off of his jail cell, then rapidly shifting through multiple different costumes, accessories, and weapons as he advances towards an unprepared prison guard. This is a logical step for not only this game but the entire series to take, a step that would help bring the LEGO games closer to their building-block source material. Creativity and customization have always been a huge part of the appeal of LEGOs, but a much less prevalent part of the LEGO games, until now.
Thanks to an article on VentureBeat, fans have some additional details on how exactly this custom character will play into the new game:
“For the first time, a Lego game will give players the ability to create and play as their own DC Super-Villain throughout the game. Their character becomes the center of the story, while teaming up with a variety of villains to adventure through the funny and original story written in collaboration with DC.”
Tom Stone, Managing Director of Traveler’s Tales games, also shared some news about the upcoming title. Stone promises players a “fun and humorous way to cause mischief” as they take control of numerous DC heroes and progress through an all-new LEGO adventure that Stone promised to be “the funniest LEGO game to date”. He also boasted about the game’s customization options, promising more customization than has ever been featured in a LEGO game before, and promises players the ability to create their own DC villain and advance them through a persistent progression system that will grant them new or more powerful traits and abilities as they move through the game. This kind of progression is something that has never been featured in a LEGO game before. While past games have given players the ability to unlock new suits for Batman and associates, better guns in LEGO Indiana Jones, and more useful characters in every title, LEGO games have never given the player the ability to upgrade their controllable mini-figures – until now.
The game is set to come to the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC in October of 2018.
Featured Image Via Warner Bros Entertainment
