It’s been thirteen long years since the original Tomodachi Life first arrived on Nintendo 3DS, but it’s not like we’ve been waiting all that time. I don’t think anyone ever expected Nintendo to make a sequel to this utterly bizarre experiment that brought Miis to life in ways we never could have imagined.
Yet here we are, just weeks away from Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream coming to Nintendo Switch and delivering a deeper, more nuanced, and infinitely more hilarious take on the series. I can only share so many details during this preview stage, but after several hours making Miis and constructing an island paradise for them to cause chaos upon, I’m struggling to tear myself away. There is simply no other game out there like this.
I’m Officially Best Friends With The Rizzler
The first thing you do in Tomodachi Life is create a Mii to christen this new piece of land, with the player taking on the role of a disembodied hand that ensures the happiness of everything and everyone that comes to call this place home. You get a name as well, so I christened the invisible god in the sky I took control of as John Cena. From there, I made a Mii of myself as I slowly began populating the island with more and more little creatures to call it home.
There was WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, The Rizzler, my brother-in-law Tim, Robby and Whitaker from The Pitt, and finally Catra and Adora from She-Ra. A mixture of family and fandom, one might say. And the best part? I get to hang out with all of them and gradually curate their personalities to match exactly who they are in reality.
I’ve never met The Rizzler, but I have to assume he walks with a little bit of sass and loves sweet treats, since I’m always stuffing his face with pastries from the local supermarket every morning to his obvious delight. The possibilities inLiving The Dream are endless, and I imagine everyone is going to experience it in an entirely unique way, thanks to all the Miis they make and how their personalities are reflected upon the wider population.
Your island is ranked up by earning golden orbs and pouring them into a fountain located in the middle of town. I can’t share what rewards this gives the player quite yet, but I promise they’re a lot of fun.
Each Mii has its own personality that is curated by a number of characteristics you choose during their creation, which is also where you will pick gender and sexual preferences. You can have Miis that are bubbly, natural leaders, introverts, dreamers, hot-blooded, and many more. These can be adjusted at any time by popping into the menu as well, if you feel like a Mii isn’t acting the way you’d hoped after creating them. Essentially, you are playing god as everyone on this island looks to you for food, fun, and fortune. Thankfully, it’s a resplendent delight rather than an obnoxious responsibility.
Aside from creating Miis, much of your time in Living the Dream will be spent chatting with them and meeting whatever needs might surface. This can range from feeding them, dressing them in cute new outfits, or introducing them to other Miis they’re desperate to be friends with.
When a Mii levels up after gaining enough experience, you can teach them a new hobby, give them a spoken expression that reflects who they are, or outfit them with a cute little quirk that changes how they present themselves. I developed a habit of giving Miis catchphrases they would spew before saying hello, or making certain Miis walk like they were strutting down a runway before striking a pose.
This results in some truly absurd and oftentimes morbidly hilarious moments that made me simultaneously laugh until my stomach hurt and also feel like an awful person. Living the Dream is so alluringly unpredictable at every turn, even if repetition feels like it will become inevitable in the full game as you go through the same interactions again and again.
I have to imagine that once you’ve settled into a consistent groove, this will become a game which asks you to check in each and every day to see how relationships are developing and take advantage of new unlocks linked to island customisation.
This Island Paradise Is Exactly What You Make It
One thing that surprised me about Living the Dream is how extensive and easy to use its island customisation tools are. After the tutorials have been cleared up, you are free to begin earning golden orbs and ranking up your island. In turn, this offers more options to customise your island through new decorations, terrain, and so on.
After struggling with some of the building options in Pokemon Pokopia, it was liberating to find out I could open the pause menu, press a button, and suddenly be free to change the entire layout of this landmass into whatever form I could imagine. Mii homes, alongside an assortment of shops like the Supermarket, Renovation Centre, Island Design Centre, and Studio Workshop, can be moved around at no additional cost to the player.
After becoming friends, it won’t be uncommon to see specific groups of Miis hanging out or heading to certain locations to have a natter. It’s your job to maintain those bonds as well, and perhaps even take them further if you so desire.
I’m an unpredictable perfectionist, so even in the early hours, I found myself popping into the Island Builder to lay specific paths, change the exact number of tiles that made up the beach, all while ensuring everyone could get from place to place with ease. It’s fun to make a range of paths which ensure Miis bump into one another on a daily basis as well, maximising chances of natural friendships developing instead of picking Miis up yourself and smacking them into each other like action figures.
The more you are willing to experiment with the mechanics here, the more rewarded you are going to feel. I can’t spoil too much during this preview, but watching friendship groups begin to form as my growing island began to develop a personality all its own was so much fun. It’s frequently unpredictable and willing to throw surprises your way that are just weird for the sake of it, expertly mirroring the vibe of the 3DS original with a vastly expanded scope.
From the first few hours, it is clear that Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream isn’t trying to be an overcomplicated life sim wrought with expectations for players to meet. It doesn’t want you to feel punished, or like you are constantly trying to meet the expectations of your Miis, instead offering an ever-evolving playground of hilarious circumstances in which you’ll be encouraged to create fictional people inspired by family, celebrities, or cartoon lesbians you eagerly want to make smooch. A video game hasn’t made me laugh this hard in years, and that has to be worth something.
