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| Title | Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream |
| Developer | Nintendo |
| Publisher | Nintendo |
| Release Date | April 16th, 2026 |
| Genre | Social Simulation |
| Platform | Nintendo Switch |
| Age Rating | Everyone |
| Official Website | |
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream looked like it would be an incredibly fun game to play. I actually never did play the previous 3DS title. But with Nintendo’s Miitomo app being long gone, and having never experienced Tomodachi Life for myself previously, I ended up playing the brand new demo before this title came out. The demo was really fun, so afterwards I was anxious to get my hands on the full thing.
Initially, I was extremely glued to Living the Dream. First of all, I spent ages on simply creating some Miis to start with. Of course, I had to start with a Mii version of myself. After adding myself, I decided to add random characters I liked from various games, such as Gilbert Redford from Piofiore and Shinjiro Aragaki from Persona 3. I also put in the existing couple of Yuri Hyuga and Alice Elliot from Shadow Hearts. Then, hoping to fulfill Patty Fleur’s wishes from Tales of Vesperia, I paired her with Yuri Lowell. Also, some weeks later when I was playing through Birushana: Rising Flower of Genpei for the first time, I decided to add in Shanao and all her different love interest options, Benkei, Yoritomo, Shungen, etc. I kept pretty in control of things in the beginning and wanted to pair up Miis how I saw fit. But now a couple months later, I feel like maybe I should’ve let things play out on their own and just watched my creations run their own lives on my island.
There are a lot of options in Living the Dream for making your Miis how you want them to be, regardless of if you want your Miis to be the same as the person/character you’re recreating, or totally different. Over time, you can make different changes to accomplish this. Some of the options include creating a catchphrase, deciding how they walk, how they eat their food, even in what way your Miis to stand. Now, the game won’t let you decide this all at once. You start off creating your Mii and customizing how you want them to look visually, then over time as you complete their various requests or play games with them, they’ll periodically level up. When a Mii levels up, you can give them a quirk, some of those things I just mentioned being your different options. Or, you can choose to give them an item that you’ll see them using on occasion, such as a camera, or even some bubbles. Your Miis will mostly go about their lives without your interference, but you can pick them up whenever you like and place them by another Mii you want them to interact with. You can also get them to use certain decorations you’ve placed around town, like a see-saw you’ve put nearby.
As I just mentioned above, yes there are decorations you can place around the island. Whenever you get enough Warm Fuzzies from your Miis for helping them out with whatever they request, you can donate them to the fountain. This will level up your overall island and grant you wishes. These wishes can be used to unlock a lot of different stuff, beyond just new quirks to give your Miis. Leveling up your island can also provide you with new decorations and even new flooring/pathway options to decorate with. The more Miis you make, the more facilities you’ll unlock and eventually the more ocean space you’ll unlock as well, which lets you increase your island’s amount of land. There are numerous facilities to unlock. Some of the facilities available are a restaurant where your Miis can hang out together, a shop where you can buy them new outfits, another shop where you can buy different food dishes to feed them and even a shopping stall with daily deals on random items.
This game ended up not having as much longevity as I had hoped. I remember back when Animal Crossing: New Horizons came out, I was assuming it would be a game like that. But to my surprise, I had a ton of fun playing that one for hours on end and still wanted to check in every day for over a year. This latest Tomodachi Life game was not like that. I found I played far too much in the beginning while it still felt fresh and new, and after that, it became a casual side game I only wanted to periodically check in on. I honestly suggest you see it as such and don’t overplay, or the excitement of it may not last for you. This is definitely the kind of casual side game that you only check in on here or there, as a break from other more substantial games, or if you simply only have 20 minutes to spare and want to pass a little time.
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream can honestly be a hilarious and very charming little game. I found that my Mii version of myself was a lot more like me than I expected. There are also a lot of hilarious interactions between the characters you create and not to mention, you’re able to write in prompts for absolutely anything you want your Miis to discuss. Plus, you can even draw in custom items, pets and food. However, I don’t know if I would say a game like this, one that’s best played only every now and then in short bursts, is truly worth that full $60 cost. Although, I suppose that’s now arguably a good deal considering certain other titles cost as much as $80. Nonetheless, I would still definitely recommend Living the Dream if you enjoy creating your own custom Miis and want a carefree humorous game to enjoy, or you’re specifically looking for something to be played in short bursts. I’ve had a lot of fun with it so far, despite it becoming a less important side game for me. I look forward to checking back in on my island for future seasons, finding new items to collect and seeing what crazy antics all my Miis get up to.
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