LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga boasts multiple gameplay changes compared to the previous LEGO games, with combat in particular looking as if it'll be much deeper overall. Developer TT Games recently released a gameplay trailer for LEGO Star Wars: Skywalker Saga that showed off its new graphics and gameplay additions. Perhaps the most notable of the updates the trailer revealed, though, was the numerous combat changes that'll be introduced. Skywalker Saga will feature third-person-shooter elements, and lightsaber combat also looks to be much improved.
The LEGO Star Wars series has never been known for its combat system. In the past, fighting enemies boiled down to hashing and slashing as a Jedi and aiming and clicking as anyone else. The few instances combat became more interesting were reserved for boss battles or sequences involving vehicles, such as the taking down of AT-ATs in the Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back Hoth sequence.
Based on the LEGO Star Wars: Skywalker Saga gameplay trailer, the game will bring depth to both boss battles and routine engagements alike. Among the more notable updates the game will bring to combat is the change in perspective. Like most LEGO video games, the LEGO Star Wars series plays from the third-person perspective, with the camera overhanging each level. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga will change this slightly by bringing the camera closer to the action, putting players right behind the characters they control and closer to the fight. This change in perspective has opened the doorway for more specific gameplay alterations that will diversify combat for the series and potentially even make it more fun.
LEGO Star Wars: Skywalker Saga Features Combos & TPS Elements
One of these changes is how aiming and zooming work when using blasters. When playing as one of the many characters in LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, players zoom in when focusing their aim like in regular shooter games. The same is true for when using vehicles like the Millennium Falcon, which features crosshairs that move independently of the ship's direction. This should, in theory, provide a much more compelling and immersive gameplay experience. Being placed directly behind these characters as they take cover and aim at enemies should add a greater sense of risk and drama to confrontations. It may seem out of place for a LEGO game, but The Skywalker Saga may benefit from making things more intense.
Another addition coming with LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga's fighting mechanics is combos. Whether using the LEGO Star Wars game version of Luke Skywalker or a character who prefers fisticuffs, it appears attacks - or at least melee attacks - can combo into long strings. Some of the combos featured in the gameplay trailer show characters pummeling droids into the air, while others show a more elaborate style of lightsaber dueling. This should bring a welcome change to the LEGO Star Wars franchise's combat mechanics, as it may not only make individual battles fun but lend boss battles more gravitas. The fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan on Mustafar already looks more exciting based on what is shown in the gameplay trailer.
How well or engaging LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga's gameplay changes turn out to be won't be made certain until its release date on April 5. The game's launch - along with other 2o22 Star Wars video games - is still months away, so excited fans will have to wait to test out aiming and dueling with their favorite characters. In any case, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga looks to be an ambitious game attempting to make innovative and fun alterations to its predecessors' combat systems.