The combined Lego and Fortnite universe is getting bigger — three times bigger, as of today. Lego Group and Epic Games announced two new Lego games, known as islands, will be coming to Fortnite. The first is a multiplayer problem-solving game with a pirate theme called Lego Raft Survival, and the second is a 3D platformer called Lego Obby Fun. Both games will be available to visit inside the Fortnite client starting Tuesday.
Lego Raft Survival and Lego Obby Fun join a growing catalog of officially-licensed Lego games now resident inside Fortnite. These releases follow a $2 billion investment from Lego Group with Fortnite creator Epic Games in 2023 and the December release of Lego Fortnite, a crafting and survival game available inside the Fortnite client. Lego Group and Epic Games are calling this new style of licensed game an “island.” So, for clarity, as of today there are now three distinct Lego-themed Fortnite games, aka islands: Lego Fortnite, Lego Raft Survival, and Lego Obby.
Both new games will be compatible with the new Lego Fortnite character skins, currently available to wear only in Lego Fortnite. We’ve included the official descriptions of these new games, offered in today’s news release, below:
‘LEGO Raft Survival’ combines frenetic multiplayer problem solving with the classic LEGO Pirates theme, as the infamous Blackbeard challenges players and their friends to stay afloat on a raft in unfriendly waters! Players must survive on their raft against the cannon balls shot from the Barracuda Ship, collecting wood and treasures as resources and to build more rafts.
‘LEGO Obby Fun’ is the first official LEGO-themed obstacle course on Fortnite, that offers a LEGO-inspired take on climbing and problem solving through brick-built platforms designed by actual LEGO designers and packed with hot dogs, pizzas, unicorns and much more.
Players are spawned randomly on a section of course inspired by popular LEGO themes (including LEGO Friends, LEGO City, LEGO NINJAGO and LEGO DREAMZzz) and the experience offers a different challenge each time to put their skills to the test, either solo or with friends.
Promotional screenshots for these games look adorable and lean into the playful and bright aesthetics of Lego children’s toys. You can find one very frantic Peely in the images of Lego Raft Survival below.
Lego Obby Fun also looks gorgeous. It’s a simple concept, but the obstacle courses that appear to have special themes are a visual delight. Once again, you can view more images below.
The announcement solidifies Epic Games’ desire to transform Fortnite into a metaverse-style platform. Additionally, these new Lego games will directly compete for the younger audiences that are currently showing up on competing platforms like Roblox. Ironically, Roblox itself was for a time known informally as the Lego of games, not only because of its blocky graphics but because of the way it allowed kids to build their own activities inside the Roblox engine. “Obby games,” short for obstacle course games, have long been a popular genre with younger players, both on Roblox and with fans of Minecraft. Now Fortnite has spun up an entire island dedicated to them with Lego Obby Fun.
If you want to get even more granular about the weird relationship between Roblox and Fortnite, you can look at descriptions of these new Lego games. Today’s news release formally called them “experiences,” rather than just calling them video games. That’s a notable turn of phrase because Roblox leadership leaned into using the word after the Epic Games vs. Apple Computer trial, wherein Roblox’s leadership found need to distinguish its own user-generated content from the kind of content found inside Fortnite.
These three Lego Fortnite islands appear to be just the beginning. According to Monday’s news release, the toy company will “launch several more Lego-themed experiences inside Fortnite throughout 2024 and beyond.”