Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream preview: our last look at the Nintendo Switch game before launch
Nintendo is bringing back one of its strangest and most charming social life simulators with Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream on the Nintendo Switch, and after checking it out during a virtual preview event, it appears that this sequel is doubling down on creativity, personality, and player-driven storytelling in ways that captivated me almost instantaneously.
The Tomodachi series has a huge focus on using player-created Miis for social interaction. The games use the console’s built-in clock and have a real-time series of events that play out over the course of a real day. Players familiar with how time flows in games like Animal Crossing and the recent Pokemon Pokopia might see this approach as familiar if you’re a first-time player.
During the preview, the demonstrator created a Mii. Not only can you fine-tune how your Mii looks, but you can now customize how their name is spoken in-game. The ability to assign pronouns, including they/them, and select dating preferences on a per-character basis (male, female, or none) reflects a more modern and inclusive approach to simulation games. These inclusions add a layer of personality that makes interactions on the island feel both more personal and dynamic, and they can be changed by the player at any time.
After character creation was over, our guide showed us a lush and active island town, which appears to support a robust amount of Miis over time. Picking up your character, you can effectively “drag and drop” them wherever you’d like on the island. This becomes an easy way to explore and engage in those real time events. While the starting population is easily less than a dozen characters, the island felt full of things to do.
Interactions unfold with dialogue that inspires a sense of humor and joy between Miis. Character decisions can result in deepening friendships, heated rivalries and more as the player steers interactions by making decisions on how to respond. Other interactions include small and sometimes hilarious mini-games. Some are purely for fun, while others directly impact your Miis’ well-being, helping resolve problems or lift their mood. Notably, a red light/green light-style mini-game stood out as a quick, playful way to interact with the various islanders.
Customization appears to be a deep focus, and extends beyond characters into the world itself. Players can draw custom images directly onto the console screen in handheld mode and incorporate them into creations, alongside a collection of pre-made assets. These creations can even be sold in in-game shops, adding a light economic system that encourages experimentation and creativity. The execution of this gave me an enormous laugh and felt like a comforting and silly kind of fun inclusion. Miis don’t experience extreme outcomes like death, but they can feel sadness, frustration, and joy – creating those oddly touching moments the series is known for.
As an older adult female gamer, what I saw in Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream was an absolutely charming little community simulator. The focus on easy and fun interactions felt a lot like a low-stakes sitcom that I could drive. This game seems designed solely just to help you relax and unwind, and does an amazing job at sparking creativity and keeping the player engaged. This isn’t a game that wants to be taken seriously, but just wants to invite you to allow yourself to enjoy something simple, silly, and fun.
