With the dust finally beginning to settle following LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga‘s launch earlier this month, we thought that now would be the perfect time to rank each Episode in the nine-film saga, as each game focuses on one Star Wars Episode. While we ultimately loved our time with the collection and found the quality across the board largely excellent, there were a few moments that yanked us out of the brick-shaped experience and left us feeling a wee bit lost, befuddled, or frustrated. Here are the LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga games ranked from worst to best. Let’s jump in!
9. The Last Jedi
Best Episodes in LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
I know what you’re thinking: he hated The Last Jedi movie so he put it at the bottom of the list. Incorrect you are, my young Padawan.
In fact, I absolutely adored Rian Johnson’s subversive yet divisive pull-the-rug-from-under-you pic. The thing is, one of the games had to go at the bottom of this list, and thanks to a really frustrating section — I’m looking at you, ‘Ground A-salt’ level — that has to be completed in a confusingly specific way near the end, I’m throwing the sophomore effort from the sequel trilogy at the bottom of the pile.
Sorry, Mr. Johnson!
8. The Phantom Menace
Best Episodes in LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
While Episode One has a really cool opening, replete with an aquatic set-piece that sees you fending off a massive underwater fish beast, it also has to do a lot of heavy lifting by virtue of it being, well, you know, The Phantom Menace.
Despite a few boring narrative sections about taxes, trade disputes, and… almost everything else (yawn), there’s still fun to be gleaned from the face-off against Darth Maul, the surprisingly entertaining Pod race, and the battle on Naboo, as well as the many LEGO slapstick jokes that feature everyone’s (not so) favorite Gungan getting up to random hijinks.
Sure, I could end this with a joke about how awful Jar Jar Binks is to add insult to injury, but I honestly feel sorry for the poor fella at this point.
7. The Rise of Skywalker
Best Episodes in LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
The Rise of Skywalker is still one of the darkest episodes in the entire Star Wars saga, and it’s great that its LEGO adaptation retains that same specific tone. That said, it’s still hamstrung by a few unexciting levels and a story that completely upends what Rian Johnson was attempting in The Last Jedi.
With its emphasis on narrative MacGuffins like wayfinders, and the ridiculous revelation that Emperor Palpatine survived his fall down the Reactor Core in Return of the Jedi (“Somehow Palpatine returned” is possibly one of the most preposterous lines in the whole of cinema, right?), its uneven source material sometimes doesn’t gel amazingly with Traveller’s Tales’ lighthearted LEGO formula.
Still, despite these issues, there’s still enjoyment to be extracted from this critically-maligned episode, especially in the opening space-faring mission in ‘A Skip and a Jump’ and the final showdown with the Emperor.