The upcoming LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is bringing some major changes to the series’ gameplay, but will also partially rectify a chief complaint longtime fans have had with recent entries. As the LEGO games have grown in popularity over the years, so too has their scope, and that meant a transition to fully voiced characters. Though this most recent game won’t remove voice acting entirely, the LEGO Star Wars: Skywalker Saga gameplay overview trailer included the reveal of a setting which will make for a nice middle ground.
The LEGO video games have unilaterally been comedic adaptions of their source material, and the earlier games relied almost entirely on the gestures made by their LEGO Minifigure characters for communication. This directly resulted in the LEGO games’ unique brand of slapstick humor, where each title was approaching parody. LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes was the first game in the series to have a fully voiced cast of characters. While the series continued successfully, many hoped that it would one day return to its pantomime roots.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga isn’t returning to a style devoid of voice acting, but it is offering a Mumble Mode setting which will likely appeal to many players. The games have always had some form of voice work, like grunts and random gibberish, and Mumble Mode appears to replace the voice lines with similar, unenunciated sounds. Mumble Mode and many other features are unfortunately a product of development crunch for LEGO Skywalker Saga, which is perhaps a side effect of the game’s lengthy delay.
Mumble Mode Is A Great Compromise For The LEGO Series
Substituting full voice work for a mumbled dub isn’t necessarily the same thing as returning to the series’ roots, but it’s an exceptionally good compromise. LEGO Skywalker Saga‘s trailers themselves have demonstrated how well voice acting can work in a the games, and it might be counterproductive for the games to regress entirely. LEGO is a brand that is aimed at an exceptionally wide audience, and having fully voiced lines in the games is important to the their accessibility. The story can be told to those unable to pick up on the gestural cues.
That said, the LEGO games’ original brand of comedy seems to be officially obsolete, and Mumble Mode won’t capture the exact same feeling. It will likely be quite different from the originals still, but an entire game with mumbled voice lines might return some of the charm lost by the series adopting voice acting. Mumble Mode and other options on top of LEGO Skywalker Saga‘s many pilot-able vehicles and playable characters will offer players a nicely tailored experience. Starting April 5, when LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga releases, players will be able to mumble their way through a galaxy far, far away.
