Lego Party

''Lego Party'' (stylized as ''LEGO Party!'') is an upcoming party game developed by SMG Studio and published by Fictions. The game is set to release in late 2025 for Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

Gameplay

''Lego Party'' is heavily inspired by franchises such as ''Mario Party'', allowing four players to compete by rolling numbers and progressing through various boards. There are four levels to choose from, each inspired by an existing Lego theme, such as ''Lego Ninjago, Lego Pirates,'' and ''Lego Space''. Varying spots on the board will have effects on the player, such as handing them a disadvantage through traps or allowing them to progress further with shortcuts. The goal is to acquire as many golden Lego bricks as possible before the end of the game.

After the four players have completed one round, a bonus game will begin from a pool of over 60 unique minigames. Examples of minigames in ''Lego Party'' include balancing on a unicycle to win a race, and jumping over a spinning octopus tentacle until one player remains standing. Minigames can also be triggered during a round by landing on a unique tile, which will trigger a 2-vs-2 game forcing players to form a duo and temporarily work together.

The winner(s) of the chosen minigame will receive Lego studs, similar to ''Mario Party'''s coins, which can be spent on modifiers to gain an advantage on the board. For example, players can earn movement modifiers to land on spots with golden bricks. Players can also use bits to buy traps, which will directly give other players a disadvantage such as stealing golden bricks from their inventory.

Development and release

''Lego Party'' was first announced at Summer Game Fest 2025 with a release window of late 2025. It is being developed by Australian team SMG Studio, who is best known for the 2020 game '' Moving Out'', and it will be the first game published by Fictions since their formation. The game is being directed by SMG Studio project director Mark Fennell. ''Lego Party'' is developed in the Unity 3D engine, and additional development support was provided by Australian studio Noble Steed Games.

During development of the game, over 100 playtests were completed with families of all ages to determine ways to make the game accessible. Some children cried during these playtests due to unforgiving rules where golden bricks would be indiscriminately stolen from their inventory. This feedback caused the developers to enable a mercy choice which lets players decide if they want to steal a brick or not.

Critical reception

Early previews of ''Lego Party'' were conducted at Summer Game Fest with 30-minute play sessions for journalists. Sam Cawley of GamingBible praised the game's differences to ''Mario Party'', pointing out how minigames do not force others to be spectators, and called the pacing "excellent". Christopher Cruz of Rolling Stone included ''Lego Party'' on his list of best games at the event, calling it "ludicrously fun" and describing it as "potentially the best modern contender for the casual couch boardgame crown". Matt Kim of IGN pointed out the game's accessibility across platforms, concluding that if "the rest of the games are anywhere near as fun as the handful that GNplayed, I can see ''Lego Party'' having the kind of addictive appeal ''Mario Party'' has had – which is especially good news for PlayStation and Xbox players that don’t have access to ''Mario Party''".

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References

External links

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{{Lego video games

Casual games
Cooperative video games
Party
Multiplayer video games
Nintendo Switch games
Party video games
PlayStation 5 games
Private Division games
SMG Studio games
Upcoming video games scheduled for 2025
Video games developed in Australia
Xbox Series X and Series S games