LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Won't Launch with PS5 Features

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga will be coming to PS4 and PS5 at launch. In an interview with Official PlayStation Magazine, lead hub designer at TT Games Dawn McDiarmid has revealed several of the newest console’s features won’t be supported at launch. The good news is there will be plenty of new game features to make up for it, including around 300 playable characters.

One of the PS5 features the next-gen version will use is the SSD drive, enabling faster loading times. However, other features like DualSense haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, ray tracing, and 3D audio will not be supported, at least at launch. McDiarmid didn’t confirm whether these features will be patched in at a later date, but it would be a missed opportunity bearing in mind the game was delayed to allow a new-gen version to be developed for PS5 and Xbox Series X.

The Skywalker Saga has been developed from the ground up with a game engine new to the LEGO franchise. This has enabled a whole host of new features to make it into the game. It’s not just a collection of past Star Wars LEGO adventures. Players will now be able to aim down sights while shooting. There’s also new upgrade system and a more in-depth quest system; McDiarmid noted some will heavily feature GNK Power Droids for comic relief. There will be “more elaborate and ridiculous quest chains” with a new tracking system on the datapad to see what you’re doing at all times. For the first time in the franchise, players can also do multiple quests simultaneously.

There will be around 800 unique characters in the game. Of those, approximately 300 are playable, including old and new characters making up the biggest roster of playable characters in the franchise. Already confirmed were Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Rey, Finn, and BB-8 as heroes, while Darth Vader and Kylo Ren are playable villains. Now added to the list are Yaddle, a Wampa, and everyone’s favorite Anzellan, Babu Frik.

Players can work through the nine films in any order they choose as they’re not locked into linear progression. There will be a total of 23 planets and moons to explore with 28 unique locations between them. Each location includes quests, challenges, characters and items to find, and each planet has its own unique local space hub that acts as a safe spot for players. Here, players can also make use of ships like the Millennium Falcon and Resistance X-Wings for dogfights. There’s plenty of opportunity for spaceship combat and players can even pick sides during combat. Finally, there’s a random encounter system with capital ships; for more areas to explore, players will want to disable them before boarding them.