Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga release date, trailers, news and gameplay

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga has been in development for a while now and it’s had several release windows but the current, and hopefully final, window is Spring 2022.

Set to be the first Lego Star Wars game since The Force Awakens released in 2016, The Skywalker Saga so far appears to be the most ambitious and feature-rich Lego Star Wars game there’s ever been. Thanks to the fact that it’ll be taking advantage of the power of the latest console tech of the Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and modern PC hardware, we’re also expecting it to be one of the best-looking Lego games full stop.

The Skywalker Saga will cover all nine of the mainline Star Wars movies, letting players experience all the familiar stories, characters and settings with that classic and charming Lego twist.

At the moment, Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is expected to release in 'Spring 2022', so we’d estimate that as being sometime between March and June 2022. We’re hoping we’ll see that release window narrowed down to a more definite date sometime in the coming months but, while we wait, here’s everything you need to know about the game so far.

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga trailer still — (Image credit: Travellers Tales / Lego / Disney)

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga – what you need to know

What is it? The latest Lego game to take place in George Lucas’s Star Wars universe.
When will it release? Spring 2022
What platforms will it be available on? The Xbox One family of devices (including Xbox Series X), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC and Mac. So everything, basically.

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga release date

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga has had a bit of a difficult development. After missing an October 2020 window, the game tried to hit a ‘Spring 2021’ release date and missed that too. After an announcement at Gamescom 2021, we now know that Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga's release date is set for 'Spring 2022'. A more exact date than that hasn't been announced yet and it remains unclear when it will be.

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga trailers

A new gameplay trailer for Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker dropped during Gamescom 2021's Opening Night Live, giving us a tantalizing look at the game in action. Check it out below.

Prior to that Gamescom trailer, we had, of course, already seen a little bit from the game. Way back in the summer of 2019 we were treated to a reveal trailer, showing off the franchise’s glitzy new visual look, and the series’ trademark humor, albeit in a teaser that didn’t appear to show any gameplay:

Then in August 2020 we were pleasantly surprised to see a gameplay trailer that matched the visual polish of the teaser. As well as showing off key playable scenes from the franchise, from dogfights to lightsaber duels, the game still features the wacky toybox-like potential for mischief that previous Lego games have had. Keep an eye out for C-3PO riding a bantha, for instance:

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga setting and gameplay

As mentioned earlier, Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is in the enviable position of being able to adapt tales from right across the entire ‘Skywalker’ saga. So in other words, you’ll be playing scenes from the original trilogy (Star Wars: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi), the prequel trilogy (The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith) and the sequel trilogy (The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker).

That does mean the excellent Rogue One, Solo: A Star Wars Story and The Mandalorian TV show are not set to feature. However, the Deluxe Edition of the game is set to include a ‘Character Collection’ bundle, which will throw in six character packs including characters from The Mandalorian, Rogue One, Solo and even the brand-new Star Wars: The Bad Batch animated series, as well as an additional pack including ‘Classic Characters’.

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is expected to be a slight departure from the Lego games that have come before it, promising deeper gameplay than the simplistic platforming and combat of previous Lego games.

Each episode of film will feature five story missions, for a total of 45 core levels in the game. Combat has been sharpened up – lightsaber duels will focus on combo building, with a mixture of light, heavy and Force attacks wielded in tandem, while ranged shooting combat moves the gameplay to an over-the-shoulder viewpoint, ala Gears of War or Uncharted. It’ll still be family friendly, but might not be quite as button-mashy as previous Lego games.

You’ll have plenty of hub worlds to explore before taking on the core missions, and these will be littered with secrets to find and collectibles to… er… collect. Hubs will range from the desolate wastes of Tatooine to the forests of Endor and the dark heart of Exegol, where the Emperor holds court. It’s an incredibly ambitious undertaking then, collating all the major sights (and sites) of the near-complete Star Wars universe. All of these locations will include random encounters too – you might be messing around before being ambushed by a Tie Fighter fleet, for example.

Vehicular based play will also be significant. The gameplay trailer shows the player taking the controls of everything from a podracer to an X-Wing, a Snowspeeder to those stupid horse things that turned up in Rise of Skywalker.

There will be variety, collectibles and fan-favourite characters and scenes aplenty then. Who knows – it may even wash away the bad taste The Rise of Skywalker left us with. We’ll have more on Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga as it’s revealed, so keep checking back to TechRadar for all the latest news.

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga news and rumors

You choose the order

We know that players will be able to play across nine films of the Skywalker saga but according to the Warner Bros page for Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Sage, players will be able to access all of them right away and play "in any order they choose. They can direct where to go and how to play." This means a good amount of freedom and the chance to play through all of your favorite worlds first.

In an interview with StarWars.com, Jonathan Smith, head of production and strategic director at TT Games, said this freedom of choice "is a really important principle for us", adding, "We love stories and storytelling; but we also feel, both as gamers ourselves and with particular concern for young players driven to experimentation and change, that stories exist to be played with, however the player wants."

Play on the light or dark side of the force

According to the Warner Bros page for the game, players will also have access to "hundreds of playable characters from throughout the galaxy and every era of the saga" from Luke Skywalker through to Darth Vader. Of course, this means you'll be able to choose whether to play on the light or dark side of the force.

Plenty to explore

The game's official page also highlights some of the locations that players will be able to explore "such as the desert of Geonosis, to the swamps of Dagobah and the snowfields of Starkiller Base", never mind the space exploration. It will, apparently, be possible to revisit a planet at any time, too, so there's no need to worry about never seeing your favorite settings again.