"LEGO Fortnite Brick Life looks fantastic and is fun to play, but I am not sure it is what gamers are looking for in 2025 and beyond."
Massively Multiplayer.
Singleplayer.
Co-op Multiplayer.
This review focuses on aspects unique to LEGO Fortnite Brick Life. For a comprehensive look at Fortnite as a whole, check out our full review here.
LEGO Fortnite Brick Life is essentially Epic Games’ attempt to recreate the Club Penguin phenomenon while making a child-friendly version of Grand Theft Auto Online and expanding the Lego Fortnite Universe.
Unfortunately, while they did a fantastic job, and LEGO Fortnite Brick Life is a fantastic social role-playing game, there are three main reasons why it will continue to struggle in the months and years ahead.
While I have reservations about social games aimed at children, I admire Epic Games for wanting to create a safer alternative to games such as Grand Theft Auto Online; the problem is that many children are already playing Grand Theft Auto Online, either without their parent’s knowledge or, in many cases, with their parent’s approval.
They will not abandon what is objectively a “cooler” and more exciting game to play LEGO Fortnite Brick Life, which looks like it was made for “little kids”.
Being a kid is tough, and peer pressure is brutal. Many kids, especially young boys, would feel pressured to play Grand Theft Auto Online over LEGO Fortnite Brick Life, even if they found the aesthetic and content appealing if their friends played Grand Theft Auto Online or similar titles aimed at a mature audience.
If Club Penguin was still a roaring success, I could see why Epic Games would want to mimic that success, but it died in 2017 (the same year Fortnite launched) due to declining revenue and shrinking community interest.
I like LEGO Fortnite Brick Life and think it is cute. Still, it does not offer much that could not have been incorporated into Party Royale, which is already predominantly populated by LEGO Fortnite Brick Life’s target demographic: roleplayers and children.
I must begin by saying that I would have loved to play a game like LEGO Fortnite Brick Life as a child.
I used to play with Lego daily for much of my childhood, and I would have loved to explore my creations and live in a vibrant Lego city filled with Lego NPCs with other players.
However, the problem with games LEGO Fortnite Brick Life is that as much as no one likes to admit it, they are a goldmine for predators.
Knowing that a game will predominantly have a very young player base makes it very appealing to paedophiles, and while I trust Epic Games does everything humanly possible to deal with these people, including robust text filters, I must admit, I just do not feel it allowing kids to talk to strangers in an online social setting is worth the risk.
If LEGO Fortnite Brick Life players could not communicate beyond set phrases and there was no way to add each other as friends, predators would not be able to chat or befriend minors.
However, that is not always the case with LEGO Fortnite Brick Life, which allows children to request parental permission to access text and voice chat.
Unfortunately, too many parents will simply grant permission so “little Timmy can talk to his friends” without considering who else they could interact with.
Thankfully, there are a few safeguards, such as email addresses and phone numbers being censored by default for children under 13; that said, children are resourceful and will likely find ways to bypass such restrictions, rendering any potential safeguard ineffective.
While parents ultimately have the responsibility to keep children safe, not all parents are good at being parents, and I would not want a child to suffer for it.
As a guy fast approaching 40, I would not feel comfortable playing a social game religiously where most of the player base are children.
While children are everywhere, including in Call of Duty and Fortnite Battle Royale, these games are not inherently social, and it’s entirely possible to play them without communicating with your team in any way.
While I know I am no threat to any child, I do not feel young children should befriend adults outside their immediate family. This can lead to disastrous encounters if they trust the wrong person or begin to forget the danger that strangers can pose, even if the adult they befriend is safe and has no ill intentions.
For this reason, I find any social game with the ability to chat and add friends problematic.
I honestly feel that no one under 13 should be part of any online community that allows for text chat and, more importantly, private conversations between users.
Children are our future and should be protected from those who would do them harm or lead them astray.
Developers need to do more to ensure their safety; while they should be able to count on parents to keep their children safe, some parents are unable or unwilling to take on that responsibility, forcing their children to “raise themselves” in an increasingly online and dangerous world.
While LEGO Fortnite Brick Life is struggling to grow and has shrunk considerably since its launch in December 2024, it currently maintains an average active user count of around 4k players during off-peak hours, with daily peaks of closer to 8k.
While these numbers are not amazing when combined with LEGO Fortnite Oddesy’s stronger numbers and the shared assets between all Lego Modes, they are not terrible.
While I cannot see Epic Games adding massive features to the mode indefinitely without an uptick in activity, if Epic Games can develop the mode to the point where it peaks at around 20k active players during peak times, I see no reason why LEGO Fortnite Brick Life will not continue to receive small features a few times a year.
These small updates and seasonal quests should be enough to keep its small, role-play-focused community engaged.
LEGO Fortnite: Brick Life is a simulation video game developed and published by Epic Games, it was released on 12 December 2024 and it is Free-2-Play.
LEGO Fortnite: Brick Life is available on the following platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
LEGO Fortnite: Brick Life supports:
LEGO Fortnite: Brick Life offers the following matchmaking options:
The LEGO Fortnite: Brick Life in-game store sells:
The following peripherals are officially supported:
LEGO Fortnite: Brick Life is rated PEGI 7+ and contains no offensive content.
LEGO Fortnite Brick Life is as clean as a whistle, well-made, and loa to play.
However, with so many children unfortunately already playing Grand Theft Auto Online and the era of Club Penguin long behind us, I am not sure how Epic Games will find ways to make LEGO Fortnite Brick Life sustainable in the months and years ahead, considering it is one of the worst-performing official modes and does not offer a unique form of monetization beyond what is already possible with LEGO Fortnite Odessey.
Ultimately, LEGO Fortnite Brick Life is a fun mode that is perfect for children and enjoyable for Lego fans of all ages. Still, I must admit that as a man of nearly 40 years, I find the concept of a social/role-playing game where the majority of the lobby could be minors not only a little offputting but deeply troubling, considering the type of people out there.
While LEGO Fortnite Brick Life is a mode created with children in mind and contains no offensive content, the fact that it was made with children in mind means it will also attract predators in droves despite Epic Games’ best efforts to weed them out.
In closing, I caution parents to actively monitor their children’s online interactions.
While there are many great and wonderful people online and friendships to be made, there are also people who could pose a very real danger to your children if you do not take an active interest in who they are speaking with and what is being said.
We found LEGO Fortnite: Brick Life to be a good game, meaning it is likely to be enjoyable for most players, despite having a few areas that could be improved upon.
