DreamWorks Gabby’s Dollhouse: Ready to Party (Switch) Review

Probably not the kind of game review you’d usually expect to see on Vooks. But with two kids under four, for better or worse, I’ve now got the job of reviewing some of these licensed games — and Gabby’s Dollhouse is definitely one of the better ones. It’s certainly a game just for kids, that goes without saying, but it does have some two-player modes. So if you’re a parent and your kid just wants to play Gabby, you can get your paws on it too.

Despite the Gabby’s Dollhouse movie just releasing and a new series coming next month, Gabby’s Dollhouse: Ready to Party tells its own story. It’s not based on any episode I’ve seen (and I’ve seen a lot of them — many times) or on the movie. And despite the Party in the title, it’s not a “Mario Party”-style game — instead, it’s a fairly chill platformer with a bunch of different mini-games to play along the way, plus outfits to unlock for Gabby.

Presented entirely within the Dollhouse, the game follows tiny Gabby and her Gabby Cats as they explore to prepare for a party. In each room, you collect something needed for the celebration and meet a different Gabby Cat. Each area offers a unique world to explore, with platforming sections between a variety of mini-games.

The platforming is simple enough for adults to grasp quickly but designed well for little ones, with only a few actions that need to be chained together — like bouncing and then grabbing onto a ledge (which the game handles automatically). My three-year-old was able to do a lot of it herself but needed some help with the trickier parts.

The mini-games are all quite different too — you can paint and colour, solve puzzles, match shapes, and even take on some more advanced ones like racing and flying sections. Although, at one point, my kid put the controller down and said, “It plays itself,” and honestly, it kind of looked like it did — probably just a bit of a dud one. If your child is struggling, or you just want to play together, a second player can jump in as Pandy Paws to help out.

The loading screens show Gabby surfing on a rainbow and collecting biscuits — the in-game currency used to unlock things (this currency too you get so much you’ll never need it all). My kid called them boring, and I’d have to agree, especially since they pop up so often. That said, the overall presentation is solid, matching the show’s aesthetic and featuring the full cast and familiar tunes along for the ride.

The game certainly won’t get the tick of approval from older kids, but for the really young audience, it’s a winner. The bright, colourful, and fun aesthetic of Gabby’s Dollhouse is captured perfectly. Overall, the game is quite short, taking only a few hours to finish, but kids will keep coming back to explore. Credit to the team for absolutely hitting the brief.

Rating: 4/5