There’s an undeniable charm to Traveller’s Tales’ LEGO series. With each game, you know exactly what you’re getting into, but their blend of light puzzle, platforming, action, and exploration elements, combined with humorous writing and whacky characters just makes them all undeniably enjoyable experiences. With the upcoming LEGO DC Super-Villains, that’s going to continue, but with a few unique twists on the formula. In anticipation of its release, in this feature we’re going to take a look at fifteen things you should know about the game. Without further ado, let’s begin.
THE BAD GUYS
LEGO games have built a solid reputation for themselves by letting players step into the shoes of some of the greatest superheroes known to us, across both DC and Marvel. In LEGO DC Super-Villains though, things are going to be changed up a bit. Because this time around, the focus is square on the bad guys. DC’s large and famous roster of villains and anti-heroes, with everyone from The Joker and Lex Luthor to Harley Quinn, are going to be front and centre this time around.
THE SETUP
How exactly is it going to make sense for us to play as all these baddies, though? Well, there’s a very clear setup for that- When Earth’s superheroes and the Justice League go missing, they’re replaced by a new superhero team from an alternate universe, called the Justice Syndicate. The Justice Syndicate, however, isn’t exactly team of do-gooding superheroes that they claim to be, and may have more sinister intentions in mind. And so, DC’s greatest antagonists come together as a team to thwart the machinations of the Syndicate.
INFLUENCES
Even though LEGO DC Super-Villains is far from the regular DC story you usually see (then again, it isn’t really trying to be that), it does share a few common threads with some of them. For instance, it shares elements with The New 52 story Forever Evil and as well as The Darkseid War, given its inclusion of things such as the Crime Syndicate of America, Darkseid’s daughter, Grail, Lex Luthor’s Superman warsuit, as well as the fact that it focuses more on DC’s lineup of antagonists than its lineup of superheroes.
CHARACTER CREATION
Even though, LEGO DC Super-Villains is going to stick pretty closely to the core gameplay pillars of every LEGO game, it is making one pretty significant addition. That comes in the form of a playable character, making this the first game in the LEGO series of video games that will allow players to create their own custom character. This character will be the main character of the story. Though the game will, in true LEGO fashion, feature several playable characters, the focus will be on the created character.
CUSTOMIZATION
Of course, players will also be given the ability to customize their character to their heart’s content. From what they look like, to what outfits they wear, to what powers they have, it’s all going to be customizable. Players can choose to give their custom created supervillain their own powers and abilities, and as they progress through the game, more customization options, powers, and abilities will be unlocked.
VOICE ACTORS
LEGO DC Super-Villains is going to have a pretty star-studded voice cast, with plenty of well-known actors usually associated with DC characters returning to reprise their roles. The two most prominent of these will be Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy, who’ll be playing The Joker and Batman. Other notable members of the voice cast include Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor, Michael Ironside as Darkseid, Tara Strong as Harley Quinn, Tom Kane as Commissioner Gordon, Steve Blum as Captain Cold, Travis Willingham as Superman, and Nolan North as Ultraman.
PLAYABLE CHARACTERS
LEGO games always give plays a vast, vast amount of characters to play as (sometimes almost ridiculously so), and that’s not going to change in DC Super-Villains. Over eighty playable characters have been confirmed for the game so far, which includes major supervillains such as The Joker, Lex Luthor, Reverse-Flash, and Darkseid. Others such as Catwoman, Deathstroke, Deadshot, Doomsday, Poison Ivy, Ra’s al Ghul, Sinestro, Scarecrow, and Steppenwolf have also been confirmed. Meanwhile, non-negative characters such as Batman, Superman, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Commissioner Gordon, Nightwing, and Aquaman will also be included as playable characters.
OTHER CHARACTERS
Of course, not every character you meet in the game will be playable (I mean, duh, right?). Several major NPCs who will be appearing in the game have also been confirmed. Many of these are very well known DC characters, whose inclusion you may have already guessed, based purely on the fact that the superheroes they’re associated with are all included in the game as well (at this point, it’d be hard to think of a major DC character that isn’t in the game). The likes of Alfred, Braniac, General Zod, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and Perry White are all going to be featured.
CONFIRMED LEVELS
LEGO DC Super-Villains will also feature several well-known DC locations as playable levels. The likes of Metropolis, Gotham City, Arkham Asylum, Smallville, Stryker’s Island, Apokolips, Galaxy Communications Gala, Star Labs, and the Justice League Watchtower have all been confirmed to be included in the game. What’s interesting is that Traveller’s Tales have also confirmed Poison Ivy and Solavar as bosses in some of the game’s earlier levels.
HUB WORLD
Something else LEGO fans may be familiar with is the concept of a hub world, an open world location that the game puts you in, letting you explore and traverse with complete freedom- this, of course, is going to be the case in DC Super-Villains as well. The game will feature a single, large hub world that will be complete open ended and allow players to explore freely, and many of the locations we just mentioned will be integrated into this hub world.
PUZZLE DESIGN
With customization and character creation thrown into the mix, LEGO DC Super-Villains needs to consider how to balance its puzzles more carefully than any of its predecessors have, but developers Travellers Tales have made sure to strike that balance well, or say they so at any rate. They are, apparently, going to be tied to progression, with several abilities only being unlocked as you progress through the game, which you will then need in other puzzles going forward. How well the game strikes this balance is something that remains to be seen.
EXPLORATION
Of course, LEGO games always take great joy in letting players traverse the open world city as they wish to, as DC Super-Villains is also going to keep doing that. Characters such as Harley Quinn, for instance, can move around on her rollerblades, while other characters will have traversal and movement options exclusive to themselves. Of course, you can also always jump into cars or other vehicles to move about the city.
ENEMIES
True to LEGO fashion, LEGO DC Super-Villains will also have some amount of variety in terms of the kinds of enemies you run into- they’re going to have differences that go beyond just visual stuff. For instance, some enemies might be wearing gold plated Legos, and only certain characters with certain abilities will be able to fight against them effectively, which means you will have to switch them into your current party.
TWO PLAYER CO-OP
Just like other games in the LEGO series of video games, LEGO DC Super-Villains will also let you play the entire game with a friend, thanks to the inclusion of two player co-op, and presumably, on the Switch that will extend to local co-op with Joycons as well. Of course, this isn’t a new feature by any means, but playing LEGO games with a buddy is always a blast, so it’s still something to look forward to.
SEASON PASS
A season pass has also been announced for LEGO DC Super-Villains, which will add several new characters to the game post its release through multiple paid DLCs. The DC Films Pack adds characters from the films within the DC Extended Universe, while the DC Super Heroes: TV Series DLC Character Pack adds characters from the DC shows on The CW, including The Flash, Arrow, Supergirl, Black Lightning, and Legends of Tomorrow.