Toys in Video Games: 3 Titles that Owned the Theme Best

Video game consoles and physical copies of the games themselves are still considered to be toys by a majority of the population. However, as any adult gamer who has played games like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt or the Last of Us will tell you, they are far from being just children’s toys! Nevertheless, there are some awesome titles that do embed the theme of toys in video games seamlessly. In this post, we will be looking at three titles that manage it the best.

LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy by Traveller’s Tales (2006)

More than one and a half decades later, LEGO Star Wars II: the Original Trilogy is still one of the best LEGO Star Wars game you can play, even today. If you are a fan of the original trilogy (1986), this game will feel like a nostalgic love letter arranged in LEGO pieces, but that’s not all either. Thanks to the brilliant variety in this third-person action game, it will appeal to all Star Wars fans in general.

After all, there aren’t too many Star Wars games around even today that will let you choke LEGO enemies as Darth Vader in one scene and tear LEGO bricks apart with Chewbacca in another! Whether you choose to slap your way through stormtroopers as Princess Leila or fight a giant alien snake with your lightsaber as Luke Skywalker, LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy is always going to be a lot of fun.

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga by TT Games (2022)

One may argue that LEGO Star Wars II: the Original Trilogy is a better game, but the difference in graphics, animation and sound quality is far too great at this point to not put LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga ahead. Also, the new RPG elements add a lot more depth to character development and gameplay this time around.

You will get to choose from different character classes this time around, namely Jedi, Dark Side, Hero, Villain, Scavenger, Scoundrel, Bounty Hunter, Protocol Droid, and Astromech Droid. Unsurprisingly, the third-person action gameplay has some similarities with the gameplay in LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, but it has been improved upon in every possible way.

However, unlike the 2006 installment, this is not a game that will run as beautifully as it should on just any PC. It might be time to get a new gaming tower for the AAA title because on powerful gaming PCs, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga looks significantly more polished than any LEGO game released before. That holds true for all LEGO games, whether they are within the Star Wars Franchise or not.

It Takes Two by Hazelight Studios (2021)

It Takes Two is one of the most unique and gripping titles ever released in the genre of toy themed video games. In the platformer/action-adventure, players take control of two handmade dolls possessed by unwilling human spirits. However, these are not exactly ghosts mind you, because the souls belong to a couple who are technically not dead yet!

When parents Cody and May announced their plans to get a divorce to their daughter Rose, they had no idea that their souls would soon be trapped inside Rose’s own handmade dolls. As May and Cody make their way through nostalgic but neglected parts of their former lives, they must work together to make it through puzzles, challenges, other toys, a murderous toolbox, a giant vacuum cleaner, and so much more.

The game is best played as a split screen, co-op platformer for two players because that is exactly how the “therapeutical” obstacles of Dr. Hakim are supposed to be handled. Whether you can relate to the subject or not, that does not take anything away from the It Takes Two’s solid gameplay and beautiful level design. Dr. Hakim is quite literally a talking book about relationship therapy sporting a classic moustache, so there’s that too!