‘Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream’ is perfect for a daily dose of laughs

I’ve never really been able to get into The Sims, for a few reasons. For starters, I don’t have the patience to meticulously recreate my friends or favorite celebrities in its highly detailed character creator. Beyond that, much of its gameplay by default revolves around managing meters to make sure your Sims stay happy and don’t die. It’s compelling to many and one of the most popular games of all time for a reason, but it doesn’t really work for me.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, on the other hand, might be the kind of life-sim I can get into. I’ve played a few hours of Nintendo’s quirky new island management simulator for Switch (as in the first one, though it’ll also work on a Switch 2), and I really dig it so far. It’s become a part of my daily routine, as every morning I boot it up, see what the goofy little Mii recreations of my friends and favorite fictional characters are getting up to, and then move on with the rest of my day.

It’s hard to say yet whether Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream will have real staying power like The Sims, Animal Crossing, and Pokémon Pokopia, but anyone looking for a low-key delivery mechanism for laughs on Switch or Switch 2 should give it some consideration.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream gives a lot without asking for much from you

I agree!
Credit: Nintendo

For those who don’t know, Living the Dream is the long-awaited follow-up to Tomodachi Life for Nintendo 3DS. The basic premise here is the same as it was more than a decade ago: You create a bunch of Mii characters (you know, like the guys you played as in Wii Sports) based on whoever you want to base them on, and they live together on an island. You can give them gifts, feed them food, nudge their personalities in different directions, and try to make them become friends or even lovers together. But for the most part, what they do and how they act is up to them, not you.

That means that, beyond the initial setup phase of making a Mii and crafting your island’s appearance to your heart’s content, Tomodachi Life isn’t a game you play so much as it’s a funny little virtual ant farm that you check in on every now and then. The biggest key to its success, in my eyes, is that the characters all speak out loud using extremely mechanical-sounding text-to-speech technology. You can modulate and pitch their voices to your liking, but at no point will their speech ever come close to sounding truly human, and that’s part of the charm.

A typical Tomodachi Life session, at least for me, lasts about 45 minutes at most. I start by turning the game on and talking to any Miis who have issues that need resolving, which can range from “I want a new friend” to “I need a new outfit.” The happier you make them, the more they level up, unlocking various bonuses that are better left unspoiled.

Again, they just kinda do this stuff on their own.
Credit: Nintendo

The real charm of all of this is that it’s naturally, effortlessly funny at almost every turn.

The voice synthesis is a big part of the humor, as just listening to your Miis talk is hilarious on its own, but Nintendo has also crafted a bunch of funny little comedy skits that play out naturally without much intervention from the player. Sometimes a Mii will ask you to go bowling with them, which means all of the island’s residents will pose as bowling pins, and you have to knock them over. Other times, they’ll ask you what you think about current trends, or if you want to help them foster friendships with other Miis.

This is also what my friends and I do on the weekends.
Credit: Nintendo

There are a ton of different little vignettes to see, and there’s no telling how much of Living the Dream one would have to play before seeing all of them. Admittedly, it’s up to the player to make their own fun, to an extent. My main method of enjoying Living the Dream has been to create Miis who only sort of resemble fictional characters like Sonic the Hedgehog, Marge Simpson, and Eric Cartman, and watch them interact with each other. Your mileage may vary with this, as for other people, creating Miis of their real-life friends or family members will be the key to enjoyment.

To its credit, Mii creation is also deeper here than it’s ever been before. Aside from new cosmetic options like hairstyles, Miis can now be non-binary and can use any pronouns, no matter what their gender is set to. They can also date and marry anyone of any gender, should you choose to set it that way. The last Tomodachi Life only supported heterosexual romances, so this is a huge improvement.

Character creation has gotten key upgrades.
Credit: Nintendo

My only major concern for Living the Dream is that Nintendo has severely limited the ability to share screenshots and videos using the Switch’s share button. You can still capture them, but getting them off your console and onto a computer or phone is much more difficult than it normally would be, presumably for content safety reasons. I get that in the abstract, but easily being able to share silly little moments on social would go a long way towards making Living the Dream part of my daily routine for months to come.

I’ll have more to say when the time comes for a full review, but at least after the first several hours, I’m excited to play more Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream launches on Nintendo Switch on April 16. You can pre-order the game now for $59.99 at Amazon and the My Nintendo Store.