DreamWorks Gabby’s Dollhouse: Ready to Party | Review

A pinch on my left, pinch pinch on my right

Győző "FairyEmpire" BakiSeptember 24, 2025Last Updated: September 24, 2025

0 4 minutes read

Young folks, gather round! The preschool animation show Gabby’s Dollhouse has finally received a fairly high profile videogame adaptation, one featuring platforming, a lot of voiced cutscenes and tons of cute minigames. Hey Gabby, take us to the dollhouse! This is the XboxEra review for DreamWorks Gabby’s Dollhouse: Ready to Party, tested on Xbox Series X!

DreamWorks Gabby’s Dollhouse: Ready to Party | Review | Image Credit: Outright Games Ltd., Infinigon Games

Annyeong Gabby!

I don’t really follow children animation, nor I have kids. Yet, surprisingly, I had already crossed paths with the preschool animated show Gabby’s Dollhouse, a Netflix series that’s about to get a full-blown DreamWorks movie in theatres as well. Most notably, when one of the most experimental and unique high profile k-pop artists, the tremendously talented NMIXX, made the South Korean version of the show’s theme song.

Alongside various animal characters, the many episodes of this show teach basic lessons to kids in a fun way. There are a lot of preschool shows that are quite obnoxious for adults to stand, but I would say Gabby’s Dollhouse is actually a quite solid product that respects the audience and their parents alike. CoComelon this ain’t, fortunately. As such, it certainly has the potential to be turned into a cute licensed videogame, and I have to admit that it’s… pretty good?

Two cool cats

In this adventure, we can control both protagonists of the show – the titular Gabby, the cat-loving, cat-ear-touting young girl, and her panda-cat hybrid friend, Pandy Paws. This allows for 2-player local co-op sessions. That’s quite the plug to sit and play together with your daughter, or to allow two siblings or friends to share this cute little adventure. There is no online options, but on the flipside, every activity is perfectly fun and playable solo as well.

The objective appears to be quite simple: as it often happens in the show, it’s time to organize a cat-tastic party! To do so, Gabby and Pandy Paws have to explore the ins and outs of their iconic dollhouse, by traversing to the various levels using the Cat-A-Vator – the show’s sentient elevator. This allows the players to interact with many of the show’s recurring characters, the Gabby Cats: Carlita, DJ Catnip, Cakey… everyone’s here! The vast cast is also fully dubbed by what I assume to be all the original voice actors, so that’s a huge bonus.

Cat Mario it ain’t, but it’s a good time

The various rooms of the dollhouse all contain characters and items to interact with, with boxes also sending us to various magic locations. This is where the real gameplay loop of DreamWorks Gabby’s Dollhouse: Ready to Party emerges, as the players get to explore fairly simple 2.5D platformer segments, solve small puzzles and minigames to open paths, progress further and, eventually, reach the goal of the area – which is an item we need for the paw-rty!

Unlike many of these licensed games that are based on preschool shows, the actual gameplay is quite nice here. The platforming isn’t at all complex, with a limited moveset and not a lot of new ideas, but it’s quite polished and well-crafted. Ledge grabs, rope climbing segments, moving platforms. Some basic exploration is rewarded, too, as there’s various slightly hidden paths, leading to extra coins, crates to open and more. It’s an easy game by all means, which makes sense for the target audience it aims for, but it’s quite solid at what it does, without any major flaws I noticed.

Let’s play a (mini)game!

The players are tasked with collecting more and more coins, which in turn can be used to unlock various minigames. These activities remain all quite easy and accessible for a younger audience, and feature quite a wide array of events. Simple jigsaw puzzles, matching shapes, basic rhythm games, pages to colour as the player sees fit, with even a few platforming and driving activities to boot. A couple of them are even quite replayable, while others use the two-player capabilities in smart ways, and I could definitely see kids try some of the more dynamic activities time and time again.

The show’s infectious cuteness is present in all aspects of this little adventure, one that experienced players should be able to complete fully in about 3 hours. But, of course, DreamWorks Gabby’s Dollhouse: Ready to Party is aimed at preschool kids, who will certainly take their sweet time in exploring every possibility and replaying segments they liked a lot. And I honestly believe that young fans of the show will have a great time with this title, as it faithfully recreates the visuals, style and scenarios of the show, rendering it even more interesting with fun, accessible and decently polished activities to boot.

One for the Cupcake Cousins

Many publishers seem perfectly content with producing “slop” for children – shameless, effortless cash-in videogames based on hot properties, assuming that the kids don’t know any better and will have their parents buy their game anyway. This isn’t the case for DreamWorks Gabby’s Dollhouse: Ready to Party, which I’ve found to be a perfect companion piece for the now iconic 2020’s preschool show. The content is accessible yet engaging, the effort of reproducing the quirks of the show are felt, and the polish is admirable for what was, presumably, a relatively quick development cycle. One that, surely we can assume, had to be done by the time Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie comes out this very September 2025.

In the end, DreamWorks Gabby’s Dollhouse: Ready to Party is a fun little adventure that captures the cuteness and charm of the series. It features accessible yet enjoyable platforming, many fun side activities, but also a huge chunk of the show’s big roster of support characters – all dubbed, in fact. The show’s iconic visuals are perfectly recreated, and so are its tunes, turning Gabby’s first proper console release into a great gift to any young fan of the series. It’s a little bit short, and surely it won’t win any awards for originality, but for a licensed videogame of a preschool show, it’s actually quite nice and wholesome. Meow!