LEGO Indiana Jones Needs Its Own Skywalker Saga Update

TT Games’ LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures is one of the strongest entries in the LEGO game franchise, and it could do with having its own LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga-style update. Traveller’s Tales recently released a comprehensive gameplay overview for The Skywalker Saga, its hotly anticipated revitalization of the LEGO Star Wars franchise spanning all nine main entry Star Wars films, and there are many reasons to consider giving LEGO Indiana Jones the same treatment. Indiana Jones is a hugely popular series and, with a fifth Indiana Jones movie on the way, this could be the perfect time to revitalize its LEGO franchise counterpart. 

One of many franchises to crossover with LEGO, LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures was released across all game consoles in 2008 and LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues followed in 2009. The two games spanned the narratives of the four Indiana Jones movies – including the poorly received Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in the second game. While the LEGO Indiana Jones games borrow heavily from the successful formula used in the LEGO Star Wars titles, they were widely praised for their emphasis on exploration and traversal, environmental puzzles, and hand-to-hand combat. The LEGO Indiana Jones games even featured some clever innovations like a level builder, a feature which has not been included in any LEGO adaptation before or since, but one that would be fitting to welcome back. 

TT Games’ recent gameplay overview for LEGO Star Wars: Skywalker Saga showed off marked gameplay improvements never before seen in a LEGO franchise game that could be perfectly applied to the world of Indiana Jones. The Skywalker Saga brings the series’ traditional third-person perspective closer to the player’s character and thus closer to the action, with combat experiencing a bit of an overhaul as well. This more immersive over-the-shoulder perspective would work well in LEGO Indiana Jones – as the previous LEGO Indy games already focused on exploration and traversal –  and including new additional RPG elements from The Skywalker Saga as well could end up playing like a LEGO adaptation of Uncharted. The change in graphics and perspective in LEGO Star Wars has also opened the doorway for more dynamic gunplay and combat featuring counters and cover, which all fall well into Indy’s adventure repertoire and would bring more diversity to the game’s action.

New LEGO Indiana Jones Game Could Feature TV Content

With an extended LEGO Indiana Jones experience, Traveller’s Tales would also have an opportunity to dig deeper into Indiana Jones’ Expanded Adventures and feature lore beyond the movies. In a new LEGO Indiana Jones game, developers would have added opportunities to include missions, locations, and characters from the Young Indiana Jones Adventures TV show, and even some Indy novelizations and comic books. TT Games could also include some of the well-received Indiana Jones video games, including Fate of Atlantis, which is one of the best Indiana Jones video games to date.

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga features a massive roster of over 300 playable characters and while the two LEGO Indiana Jones games had an impressive enough 83 playable characters altogether, there are even more memorable characters from across all mediums that could be included in a new game. The Young Indiana Jones Adventures, in particular, featured real historic figures with whom Indy interacted, and if the developers were to include this part of his lore in a LEGO Indiana Jones game like this, the game could feature characters like Pablo Picasso, Theodore Roosevelt, or even Al Capone. That would certainly be one way to bring variation to the gameplay, and potentially even satisfy fans who’d rather play as anyone other than Mutt Williams.

There are a lot of lessons to be learned from the gameplay and character improvements made to LEGO Star Wars that could be applied to a fresh LEGO Indiana Jones title. While no such game has been announced just yet, there’s at least no short supply of upcoming Indy content for fans to expect. The fifth Indiana Jones film will be released in 2023, and the recently announced Indiana Jones game by Bethesda is in development as well. For those who need a fix of LEGO in the meantime, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga releases across consoles on April 5, 2022. 

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