After several years of development, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga was released, promising several hours of gameplay alongside the nine main films, with multiple angles of replayability. Not only that, but the game also hosts new open-world playgrounds based on popular planets in the star wars universe. Whether you’re a newbie or a returning veteran, consider this handy guide to your return to the LEGO fray, detailing several treats you might overlook on your first playthrough.

1. Use force (no, really)

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga revamped the way it views characters, categorizing them into classes that will let you use their abilities on the fly. Whether it’s using Bounty Hunter character weapons to destroy golden boxes or using a Scavenger’s crafting ability to create weapons that unlock new parts of the environment, there are lots of options here to help with general gameplay and collecting Kyber Bricks. It’s the latter that will put you to the test, due to their importance in improving skill trees for character classes, as well as their tricky locations in the overworld.

One of the most common solutions to these trials, however, is to use the Force. Playing as one of the many Jedi characters should be a given, but many smaller droids, like R2-D2 and BB-8, can be picked up by using the Force to place them in higher areas. What you can do for some Kyber Brick locations is have one character as a Jedi and another as a smaller droid, pick up the droid using the Force, then when they’re in the air? Quickly drop them and switch to them for it to count when you pick up the Kyber Brick. It’s a beautifully useful shortcut to help you speed up collecting those multitudes of bricks.

2. Play New Trilogy First

With a film franchise as culturally revered as star wars, some people will have personal preferences as to how they approach it. Older players can play Episodes IV, Vand VII first because of the nostalgia factor, but younger gamers may find more solace in Episodes I, IIand III. For my money, however, I would highly recommend playing Episodes VII, VIIand IX first.

Although each episode gets a fresh coat of paint and semi-open world status, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker be subject to the Lego the first time game filter should be enough. It’s exciting how well TT Games has structured the film’s most pivotal moments, but it also used those episodes as a learning curve. Both of these movies and The Force Awakens display feature-rich tutorials that explore all the new elements that the previous six movies and their levels don’t.

Based on that alone, it might make more sense to play the new trilogy first, if not for the encouragement to try new mechanics, then because it might make The Rise of Skywalker all the more bearable.

3. It’s okay to miss things

the Lego games have always prided themselves on their replayability, and The Skywalker Saga is no exception, despite its rather intimidating size. While the large maps of the various planets will have their own set of challenges, it’s the main story missions that will focus on this replayability. Whether it’s Microkits or secondary objectives – both of which will help you in your collection of Kyber Bricks – you’ll never get it all on the first try.

It’s an incredibly mischievous, but at the same time, incredibly encouraging gameplay loop. The new character classes will encourage even more variety, not just searching every nook and cranny of a single piece of a Microkit. It helps to keep the pace at that upbeat pace as you have fun and break all possible LEGO structures in order to get as many studs as possible. So don’t worry if you find a Microkit in a level that requires abilities none of your characters have, just unlock the free play option and come back with new footwork.

4. Be careful what you upgrade

This is advice and may be down to personal preference, but you will notice one thing about Skywalker’s Slumpa is how centralized the action is. The HUD elements do a really good job of keeping unnecessary information out of the constant LEGO money shots, even if you don’t tinker with the display options. That said, the display options ignore one of the enhancements that can ruin the visual clarity of your gameplay.

Beyond the different character classes you can level up, there are also base level ups that will help you no matter who you’re playing with. These can range from simple health boosts to increased damage with blasters and lightsabers. There’s also an upgrade you can acquire early on that will highlight the location of each Kyber Brick, Datacard, and Microkit in your general neighborhood on your screen. As noted in our review, this can and will make your screen an almost unreadable mess of blue lights, notification icons and waypoint arrows that, as we noted then, you have no way of disable.

Keep this in mind as you continue to play, because while it can be a boon for late-game activities, it will bog down your experience if you get stuck with it early on.

5. Mute this music, if necessary

With the return of a classic Lego game, it’s almost certain that everyone will want to show off what they can do in The Skywalker Saga. It could be fancy stuff you’ve learned, or Easter eggs you’ve found, maybe even an entire speedrun series. These are legit sources of content that people will want to create for a product they love, and as such, you’ll see it playing on YouTube and Twitch, and you can have fun.

If you are looking to create video content for The Skywalker Saga, then more power for you; don’t forget to mute this iconic John Williams score before doing so. While TT Game is excited to see its game reach as many people as possible, the copyright bots that roam YouTube and Twitch like the Sentinels of The matrix? They’ll remove your video content faster than you can say “Wait, is that REALLY called ‘Jizz Music’?”.

There! A handy little guide ready to prepare you for the depths of Tatooine, Dagobah, and more. I hope you can use these tips to the best of your ability, and who knows? You may come across an even more useful tip in your journey to hold back the oppression of the LEGO Empire. If you find anything not mentioned in this guide, why not sound off in the comments below?