Legacy Of The Dark Knight adds DRM ahead of launch

Lego games are quintessential family games, the kind you huddle along on the sofa, one person awkwardly bumping into the corners of the screen in search of secrets while the other desperately tries to make it through the level. Unless it's split screen, which is the devil. You can't knock your brother into the split screen abyss.

So it was a bit of a surprise when Lego Batman: Legacy of The Dark Knights recommended specs on PC – even the revised ones – were revealed. 16GB of RAM is now the “minimum requirement” to run the game at 30fps on a 1080p screen, despite most Steam users only having 8GB, something that's unlikely to change with prices skyrocketing thanks to the skyrocketing demand for AI data centers.

UE5 is the basis for TT Games' latest release compounding performance concerns, given the flood of ugly PC ports in recent years that use the engine. But now, just weeks before launch, the team has quietly added a Denuvo DRM disclaimer to the store page, casting even more doubt on how the game will run on a regular PC.

What is Denuvo DRM, and why is everyone losing their dubs over it?

lego batman looks worried about the legacy of the dark knight.

If you're confused about what Denuvo DRM is and why it sets off alarm bells during gameplay whenever a developer stamps their work with the yellow warning box, it's an anti-tampering technology designed to prevent games from being pirated.

Tests over the years have found that games not only suffer from lower frame rates with Denuvo enabled, but even take longer to boot, something that product manager Andreas Ullman didn't refute in an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun 2024, despite frustratedly pointing out the “benefits” it brings to players.

Denuvo is also harmful to the preservation of video games, which is why storefronts like GOG have made it their mission to sell DRM-free games.

Given Lego Batman: Legacy of The Dark Knight's already intense demands on PC, it's understandable that concerns are raised about technology that risks further degrading performance. Worse, new Denuvo-protected games, such as Resident Evil Requiem, are already being cracked, and studies have shown that the initial sales loss to piracy balances out after about three months, raising questions about whether the performance damage for paying customers is really worth the price.