LEGO Party! is one of those games you expect to pick up for a quick session and suddenly realise you’ve sunk hours into. Taking the unmistakable structure of Mario Party — board traversal, mini-game mayhem and star collecting — it adds Lego’s signature charm and, more importantly, its precision. Where Nintendo leans into chaos and luck, LEGO Party! rewards strategy and execution. It offers a variety of difficulty levels, allowing players of all ages to access the game.
Party games have been around long enough that most now fall into one of two camps: pure luck-driven chaos designed for button-mashers, or rigid systems wearing colourful skins to hide shallow mechanics. LEGO Party! quietly sidesteps both. It borrows the familiar bones of Mario Party like dice rolls, themed boards and frantic mini-games, but remoulds them with a sharper sense of control, strategy and personality.
Rather than existing as another casual throwaway title, LEGO Party! proves to be surprisingly competitive, deliberate, and layered. That’s not something usually said about a game where a shark-headed wizard can bankrupt you in one turn.
Controlled Chaos with Bricks and Strategy
At its core, LEGO Party! follows the tried-and-true formula: move around a board, collect golden bricks (stars), disrupt your rivals and survive an onslaught of mini-challenges. But what differentiates it is the degree of intentionality. Instead of handing victory to players based on random rolls or arbitrary bonuses, LEGO Party! places more agency in players’ hands.
Mini-games aren’t side distractions — they determine turn order for the round ahead. Winning a challenge can mean getting first pick of item shops or being closer to the next golden brick. Conversely, losing deliberately can occasionally be a viable strategy if you’re aiming to play reactively. This slight change in structure — placing skill before movement — imbues the chaos with purpose.
There’s still unpredictability, of course. This is a party game. But unlike Mario Party, where momentum can be lost on a dice roll alone, Lego Party rewards consistency. If you win because you outplayed your opponents, it feels like you earned it.
A Character Creator Worth the Price of Entry
The game features four themed boards at launch: Pirate, Space, Theme Park and Ninjago. Each comes with its own board layout, environmental hazards and tone. The sarcastic in-game announcers keep the energy high, chiming in with commentary that lands somewhere between sports broadcasting and reality TV confessionals.
Each turn offers meaningful decision-making moments — buy a buff at the shop, lay down a trap, or pay a questionable NPC to commit brick-based larceny on your behalf. The ebb and flow of golden brick ownership ensures no one is safe for long. Like all party games, someone will inevitably claim they were robbed. The difference here? They’ll likely be right.
The only drawback is longevity. While each board is enjoyable, four maps won’t stretch forever. After a dozen sessions, you’ll start to see familiar patterns. There’s a strong foundation here, but long-term variety will depend heavily on whether developer SMG Studios expands this roster — and given LEGO’s history with DLC, it feels like an opportunity rather than a guarantee.
Mini-Games: Plenty of Variety, Minimal Filler
Party games live or die by their mini-game catalogue. Fortunately, LEGO Party! delivers one of the more consistently entertaining selections in recent memory. Across its 60-plus offerings, there’s a genuine mix of skill-based challenges, chaos generators and reflex tests.
Some require precision — balancing races, quick-counting puzzles, steering contraptions controlled by multiple buttons simultaneously. Others operate on pure absurdity — launching darts into spinning targets, scrambling for coins or smashing crates like caffeinated raccoons.
Crucially, mini-games move quickly. No round overstays its welcome, and even failures feel recoverable. The only real frustration is the absence of a standalone mini-game mode. You can’t jump in for quick three-minute bursts without committing to a full board session. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it’s a strange omission in a genre where “just one more round” should be an easy sell.
Energy, Humour and Just the Right Level of Pettiness
For all its mechanical strengths, LEGO Party! thrives on tone. It’s loud, colourful, slightly unhinged and deeply unserious, but never patronising. The humour isn’t targeted solely at kids; it plays equally well for adults who don’t mind a touch of theatrical sabotage. The announcers are snarky, characters are expressive, and board animations add flair rather than clutter.
There’s enough unpredictability to keep things tense, but enough structure to make every session feel fair. Winning matters. Losing stings — but never feels hopeless.
Final Thoughts
LEGO Party! is one of the strongest local multiplayer titles you can get your hands on right now. It understands that party games thrive not on randomness but on rhythm — keeping players constantly engaged, giving them opportunities to recover, and ensuring every decision matters.
It’s accessible without being mindless, strategic without killing the fun, and energetic without overwhelming. With more boards and a standalone mini-game mode, it could easily become a long-term staple in regular gaming rotations.
As it stands, it’s a confident, clever and highly replayable party experience that proves LEGO games don’t need licensed IPs to shine.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Highlights: Gorgeous art style, balanced sense of humour; Excellent character customisation; Fast and varied mini-games; More strategic than most party games
Lowlights: Only four boards at launch; No standalone mini-game mode
Developer: SMG Studio
Publisher: Fictions
Platforms: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Windows PC & Nintendo Switch
Available: Now
Review conducted on PlayStation 5 Pro with a release code provided by the publisher.
Featured header image provided by the publisher.
