Fans are only weeks away from a game that seemed like it might never actually make it: LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. Despite countless delays, the time has almost come for gamers to once again jump into a bricked-out version of the iconic galaxy far, far away. The project is enormous in scale, with the story spanning the entirety of Episodes I-IX.
Each episode will also introduce semi-open world areas on the various iconic planets that make their appearances throughout The Skywalker Saga.
On top of the sheer amount of story content present, there will also be an expansive roster of over 300 playable characters for fans to play as. Needless to say, it’s an impressive total.
As exciting as the upcoming game is, it looks like one commonly included feature will be missing: character customization.
No Character Customization in LEGO Star Wars
On Twitter, a 2019 interview regarding LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga surfaced, featuring a developer confirming that the upcoming game would have a character customizer.
However, it seems that’s no longer the case. TT Games, the developers behind the game, called attention to the old interview, revealing that “sometimes features change throughout development” and how the final product “doesn’t have character customization:”
“Hi! We'd like to address this point directly. This interview was from 2019, and sometimes features change throughout development. We can confirm that LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga doesn’t have character customisation, but we do have 300+ characters for you to choose from.”
When asked if customization might be included in a future update, the developer responded by saying: “we have nothing to announce on any future updates at this time.”
The Skywalker Saga Likely Triumphs
It’s understandable how some fans may be upset to learn of a common feature being notably absent in the new release, as character customization has been a component of every mainline LEGO game (besides for LEGO Rock Band, and LEGO Dimensions) to date since LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy. However, as the developers stated, there are over 300 characters, with more to come after launch. At that point, it feels like the character customization would hardly have been used.
As The Direct's own Ben Osborne pointed out, the decision to drop the feature was likely due to the new engine being used by the team at TT. Games. This would mean that the countless combinations available would need to be tested throughout the 300+ long roster; an effort that would have been put to better use elsewhere.
Another feature previously reported to not be included with the upcoming game was the ability to play with friends online. While it had been available in a previous LEGO entry, The Skywalker Saga would not be adopting the feature. In today’s modern age, one would think being able to play online in a co-op game would be a no-brainer.
Despite these missing elements, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is shaping up to be one of the largest games in the franchise yet when it launches on April 5.