Recent reports have indicated that LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga will not be bringing online co-op back, which is a missed opportunity for what is looking to be developer TT Games' most impressive LEGO entry yet. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is looking to improve upon the original LEGO Star Wars saga in just about every way, so it comes as a bit of a surprise that it will be missing a major feature that appeared in LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, online co-op. However, despite its inclusion in LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, online co-op has been somewhat of a rarity in TT Games' LEGO adaptations of popular film and comic book universes. While every game has included an option to play the full game in local co-op (or couch co-op), LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga is the only game in the series to include an online co-op option.
While it has been some time since a LEGO game has included online co-op (LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga released in 2007), LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga would have been the perfect game for TT Games to bring it back in. While the game does feature several callbacks to previous titles, such as a new "mumble mode" that emulates previous LEGO Star Wars games' non-talking characters, it unfortunately will not be bringing back The Complete Saga's online multiplayer mode, limiting the number of people that will be able to play the game together. While it is admirable that TT Games is working to keep couch co-op an important part of the series - at a time where many other developers are leaving local co-op options behind - in an increasingly global and online world, many players are unable to go over to their co-op partner's house to play.
As reported by The Direct, TT Games' new LEGO title won't feature online co-op, which may come as a disappointment to some fans. Playing couch co-op has become more challenging following the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, more people began to use online gaming as a way to spend time with friends and family, even during lockdowns and quarantines. With this in mind, it seems even more important that LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga should feature online co-op. In a game as impressively ambitious as the new LEGO Star Wars, which encompasses numerous planets and characters, it seems a surprisingly important feature to leave out, even given the fact that online co-op has been the exception and not the norm with previous LEGO games.
LEGO Star Wars' New Gameplay Changes Make Online Co-Op A Must
One of the biggest changes that LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga will be making over its predecessors is in its gameplay. The game features all-new combat that adds depth to systems like melee combat, gunfights, and starship battles, making them not only look a lot better than in previous titles, but also bring a more authentic Star Wars and LEGO feel to the game. This can be seen notably in Skywalker Saga's improved shooting mechanics, which now utilizes an over-the-shoulder camera similar to most third-person shooters. This new camera style makes the former games' shared screen co-op an impossibility and will likely require that the game be played in split-screen, obscuring some of the surroundings, and making online co-op the better way to get a full-screen experience while still getting to bring a friend along.
While it is possible that LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga may eventually add online co-op in a post-launch update, the chances are looking unlikely. Hopefully, if TT Games decides to revisit some of its other franchises after Skywalker Saga, like LEGO Lord of the Rings, it will consider adding online co-op as an option. While it is unfortunate that LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga won't have online co-op, at least players can use share play features to retain some form of interactivity across multiple consoles.
Source: The Direct