LEGO City Undercover Needs a Spiritual Successor Now More Than Ever

LEGO has found quite a bit of success in the world of video games, and its vast array of licensed movie adaptations is the company’s biggest draw. FromStar WarstoIndiana Jonesto Marvel and DC, LEGO has taken a slew of iconic pop-culture franchises and turned them into large-scale, family-friendly action-adventure games. But every so often, anon-licensed LEGO gamewill rear its head, likeLEGO City Undercover.

While LEGO’s extensive back catalog of beloved licensed platformers will always be the most fondly remembered LEGO video games, a handful of non-licensed titles have struck a chord with fans over the years. These titles range from the ambitious proto-open-world 1997 gameLEGO Island, to theMario Kart-inspiredLEGO Racersseries.LEGO City Undercoveris one such game, boasting an original story and setting, along with a handful of unique gameplay mechanics. It may not be the most beloved LEGO entry, butLEGO City Undercoverdeserves a spiritual successor, now more so than ever.

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A LEGO City Undercover Spiritual Successor Could Be Great

LEGO City Undercover Broke New Ground for LEGO Games

Originallyreleased as a Wii U exclusive in 2013,LEGO City Undercoverwas the first big-budget LEGO game in a while that didn’t base itself around a license likeStar Wars, Marvel, or DC. Instead,LEGO City Undercoverfeatures an original story and an original setting, both of which are based on the titular real-world LEGO set theme. InLEGO City Undercover, players take control of an undercover cop named Chase McCain who’s on the hunt for the criminal mastermind Rex Fury.

After a brief introductory cutscene and mission, players are thrust into a pretty vast open-world. Much like other open-world LEGO games, players will be splitting their time participating in linear story missions and exploring the large open-world hub of LEGO City, which contains 20 individual districts. Various collectibles, side quests, and challenges are dotted aroundLEGO City’s open-world, each one pushing the player incrementally closer to that desired 100% mark.

Long-time fans of LEGO’s more recent video game offerings will be all too familiar withLEGO City Undercover’s open-world formula, but it’s important to note that this was by far the most ambitious game developer TT Games had put out to this point, coming less than a year afterLEGO Batman 2, the first major LEGO game to include a fully open-world. What makesLEGO City Undercovereven more impressive is just how varied and engaging its missions and open-world content are, considering that there’s no big license to prop them up.

LEGO City Undercover Could Pave a New Path Forward for LEGO Games

After years of troubled development,LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Sagafinally released in April 2022, and it was met with a decent reception on launch. Today’s most ambitious LEGO game,LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Sagamergedall nine mainlineStar Warsmoviestogether, and offered over 20 fully explorable hub planets, each one packed with a ton of side content. The perception aroundLEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Sagahas soured somewhat in the two years since launch, with many believing the game to be a tad too bloated with half-baked side content. But for a property likeStar Wars, many fans expect the biggest experience possible.

This is where aLEGO City Undercoverspiritual successor could pave a new way forward. Withlicensed properties likeStar Wars, expectations are always going to be sky-high from the moment the project is first announced. But with non-licensed, original themes, LEGO could easily end up surpassing expectations by producing less but more refined content.