Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream delivers on its promises. It’s a fun way to design a world with characters you’ve envisioned. Whether you want to base your creations on existing people or make something original, the Mii creation screen is detailed enough to make your wildest dreams come true. The city builder is also intuitive and easy to use, making city management feel great in practice. While interaction between Miis is clearly the star of the show, the lack of goals or quests can sometimes make the game feel a bit repetitive. However, if you are intrinsically motivated and able to set your own goals in a sandbox world, I have no doubt that you will be able to lose yourself in Tomodachi Life for hours on end.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream encourages imagination by giving you all the tools you need to create your own island, and its Mii citizens, at your own pace. Still managing to offer a sense of progression without any real objective, leveling up is done simply by experimenting with the many different ways of keeping your Miis happy; giving them food, items, clothes, and quirks and watching conversations between them unfold in humorously wacky scenarios using the unfiltered lingo you’ve taught them. Although you’ll end up having to skip many repeated interactions, and some of the personality differences between Miis can be subtle, the amount of customization is incredible for creative types who are looking to live out their most outlandish crossover dreams.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is a delight, with superb character customization and plenty of charming humor. Its hands-off nature won’t be for everyone, and the lack of a dedicated Nintendo Switch 2 version is a missed opportunity, but there’s still no other game that offers its special brand of unapologetic weirdness.

It’s an interesting title full of whimsy and charm that targets a specific style of audience, but when it’s with that audience, it really clicks. If you’re seeking a fairly mindless fun time but aren’t sure about the full release, feel free to check out the demo before you buy.

If only its laudably permissive tools were supplemented with more substantial material, it would be a top tier production. A weirdly large selection of unlockable fences just doesn't put any gas in the tank, but it really is a fun ride while there’s fuel.