After years of waiting, Traveller’s Tales finally releasedLEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Sagato immense praise. The game serves as a celebration of theStar Warsfranchise, letting players adventure through the galaxy for all nine mainline films. They can battle the Trade Federation on Naboo, fly the trench run to destroy the Death Star, and battle the vile Kylo Ren. Almost all the iconicStar Warsmoments have beenrecreated in hilarious LEGO fashion, except for the twoStar Wars Storyfilms.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Sagaadapts the prequel, original, and sequel trilogies. The two other theatrically releasedStar Warsprojects are absent here, save for some character DLC packs. Players are not able to fight on the planet of Scarif duringRogue One,or attempt the Kessel run fromSolo: A Star Wars Story.While the focus of the game is on the Skywalker saga, leaving theStar WarsStoryfilms out keeps it from being the definitive celebration that it wants to be.
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Solo and Rogue One are Absent From LEGO Star Wars
From the announcement ofLEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Traveller’s Tales made it clear thatRogue OneandSolowere not going to have a major presence. The story was going to focus on thenine films from theSkywalker Saga, and none of the extraStar Warscontent would have levels. That meant shows such asThe Clone Wars, Rebels, The Mandalorian, andThe Bad Batchwould receive no recognition in the story either.
Instead of receiving story content,Rogue One andSolowould receive character DLC. All the DLC forLEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Sagais character packs that include people from otherStar Warsprojects. Many characters fromRogue One, Solo, The Bad Batch,andThe Mandalorianhave already been released. While these DLC packs do give the projects some recognition, leaving their stories out of the game preventsLEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Sagafrom being the best it can be
The Star Wars Stories are Integral to the Skywalker Saga
BothSolo: A Star Wars StoryandRogue Oneare not considered partof the largerSkywalker Saga. Neither movie contains a Skywalker character as a main player, and thus the story is not considered a part of the mainline series. Instead, both movies were given the moniker ofStar Wars Story,denoting that they were supplementary material. However, both movies help to build out the overarching saga, and serve a much larger purpose than a simple adventure in the galaxy.
Rogue Onetells the storyof how the Rebel Alliance retrieved the Death Star plans for Princess Leia at the start ofA New Hope. It chronicles the days of the Rebellion before they first appeared in theaters, and gives viewers a deeper look into the interworkings of the galaxy. They get to learn that the Rebels were not necessarily flawless heroes, and that they were not the only ones fighting for freedom. The film introduced characters like Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor, who served pivotal roles in the overarching story. On top of that, viewers got to learn more about the Empire and the power struggle between Darth Vader and those serving under him.
Solo: A Star Wars Storyserved as an origin forthe infamous Han Solo. It gave viewers more insight into the scoundrel’s past, and finally shed some light on what the Kessel Run was. It also let people see the start of the friendship between Han Solo and Lando Calrissian that would come into play inThe Empire Strikes Back, along with the first time Han and Chewbacca met. The film also continued plot threads fromThe Clone Warsby involving Darth Maul and his crime syndicates.
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Solo and Rogue One are Must-Haves for DLC
The majority of DLC that Traveller’s Tales releasestends to be centered around character packs, but it has also done level packs. InLEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham,players can purchase DLC that let them play a scene fromThe Dark Knight,Man of Steel, and even a level that includes the Suicide Squad. Owners ofLEGO Marvel’s Avengerscan pick up DLC that includes missions based onAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D.At one point, Traveller’s Tales was even considering a large-scale DLC forLEGO The Hobbitthat would have added the thirdHobbitfilm.
Traveller’s Tales is no stranger to adding DLC levels post-launch. While it currently has no plans toaddRogue OneorSolo-based DLC, not doing so would be a disservice. Traveller’s Tales wants to craft a celebration of the franchise, and it has mostly succeeded in that. Many fans are also calling for the inclusion of the TV shows, but if Traveller’s Tales is not willing to add story DLC around the other two films in the saga, TV shows are likely out of the question.
The form that these DLC packs take does not have to be large. In the past,LEGO DLC has mostly included one or two levelsper-pack. While adding the full five levels per-movie would be preferred, Traveller’s Tales could just deliver a couple that recreate the iconic Scarif battle in LEGO form forRogue One,as well as make a playable Kessel run forSolo: A Star Wars Story.
Even ifRogue OneandSolo: A Star Wars Storyare not considered a part ofTheSkywalker Saga, they are bothintegral parts of theStar Warsstoryand deserve to be recognized. While it does not seem like Traveller’s Tales has any plans for level DLC after the character packs are released, it should reconsider. Leaving those two films out ofLEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Sagaprevents it from being the bestStar Warsexperience it can be.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Sagais available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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