Party games are always great to play with friends. Most are mindless fun with creative gameplay mechanics that keep the group engaged but don't have a ton more going on with them. However, there are some party games out there that have some extra story to them.
Given their genre, party games are not usually the first place someone would go to get a deep background on the world they are playing in. However, there are experiences that have a surprising amount of lore that is explored either through a story mode or just playing the game and noticing little story details in the background.
1 Monster Prom
Dating simulators may seem like more intimate experiences meant for single players, but Monster Prom is perfectly built for some fun times for up to four players. Because of this unique blend of genres, this silly visual novel turned party game actually has some nice depth to its story.
Players can compete to win the hearts of the various different monster students at the high school, which includes learning about each character's backstory and seeing them involved in different scenarios over a three-week period. There are over 1,000 different events that could unfold.
2 Castle Crashers
It is always a good time to fight bad guys together, and one of the greatest party titles all about fighting ridiculous enemies is Castle Crashers. The story itself may seem very surface level: four knights work together to try to save the four princesses who have been kidnaped by an Evil Wizard.
However, Castle Crashers has a wide array of characters and enemies that not many other party games could match. This includes creative bosses that will both make players laugh and also provide a nice challenge to force the party to stay alert. Even some brief cutscenes add to the depth of the world of Castle Crashers.
3 Super Smash Bros. Brawl
The party game genre would look a lot different without the Super Smash Bros. games. And while it may not be as beloved as other entries, Super Smash Bros. Brawl took a risk by introducing an adventure mode called Subspace Emissary that added a lot of unexpected layers to the franchise's universe.
Not only did players get to see cutscenes between Nintendo characters that they never expected, but the developers also added new enemies and bosses that existed in no other Nintendo universe. The lore of all these newer entities, including the main villains, can be found when looking through the game's trophies.
4 WarioWare: Get It Together!
Another Nintendo party series that has a lot more depth to it despite its straightforward mechanics is WarioWare. In nearly every game, players get a look into the lives of Wario and various people of Diamond City, the primary location of most of the games. WarioWare: Get It Together is one of the best examples of this.
The game starts with all the main characters working together to make a game when suddenly they all get sucked into it. Most levels involve learning about a day in the life of each of the characters, as well as their interactions in fighting back against game bugs. The world-building luckily pays off in the game's finale.
5 TowerFall Ascension
Before Celeste, Maddy Thorson created a popular indie party game called TowerFall: Ascension. The platform fighter pitted four archers against each other in a fight to the death. While it may be easy to ignore everything in the background and enjoy the game, there is a lot of lore built into the title.
The people of TowerFall: Ascension are ruled by Kings. The main king earned the throne thanks in part to the skills of Red Archer while Pink Archer rules over the desert area of Mirage. There are also multiple deities worshiped by the two kingdoms and a legend known as "The Order" who swore to protect the world from losing its balance.
6 Moving Out
Working together to battle enemies is great, but so is doing other tasks that require a team effort. Moving Out is all about getting furniture from inside a home and getting it onto a truck outside. Up to four players can take on the difficult task, which will involve creative ways to get each piece of furniture to its mandatory location.
Along with a plot that gets a bit wild, Moving Out has a group of unlockable side levels called VHS Superstore. This looks at the history of movers in the Moving Out universe and adds a more hilarious backstory to the world, letting people play "famous moments" in the history of movers.
7 Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania
While it may not be among the biggest names in the party genre, Super Monkey Ball has long been a great way for players to both race each other on tilting courses and play a variety of fun mini-games all in one place. Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania is the definitive version of this, including a retelling of one of the series' weirdest lore drops.
A plot first introduced in Super Monkey Ball 2, the story mode tells the tale of MeeMee being kidnaped by a time-traveling evil scientist named Dr. Bad-Boon, who hopes to make MeeMee his wife. AiAi and the gang then go back in time to stop him, leading to a wild series of events that includes robots and a space colony.