Why 'Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream' Is The Hottest New Game!

Have you ever wanted to fall madly in love with your celebrity crush? Or perhaps a TV character? Or even someone you’ve met in real life? Well, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is the game for you. With its worldwide release on April 16, Tomodachi Life has been flying off the shelves, beating the physical sales record of Nintendo’s Pokémon Pokopia, released earlier this year, and for good reason. Not only can it be played in handheld mode on either the original Switch or Switch 2, but it can be cast up on your TV for a shared gameplay experience that the original 3DS Tomodachi Life could only dream of. Here are a few reasons why we think you should hop on the Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream hype train and start your very own island!

The Character Creator

You can design practically anyone you can think of, turning them into a Mii character that inhabits your island. The character creator has a wide array of options and even allows users to draw directly onto their Mii’s faces. This enables variability that opens your island up to all sorts of wacky combinations and possibilities. Users then select a gender, including the option for non-binary Miis, as well as sexuality, unlike the original game. You then fill out a personality questionnaire that really brings these characters to life. So you can let your mind run wild, including your favorite pop star, your best friend, mom, or cartoon character; the possibilities are endless.

Manipulating Island Relationships

You can encourage the interaction of your Miis, building relationships through zany cutscenes and conversations. Your words influence whether your islanders become friends, lovers, or even enemies. While the game continues changing as your characters act without direct encouragement from you, you become the decision-maker in whether to watch their natural relationships play out like a soap opera or whether you wish to promote certain partnerships over others. It’s up to you and the people you play with to decide. 

However, there are certain things out of your control -- whether your Mii enjoys a certain food or outfit and what particular events each character triggers. This only makes the game more interesting, though, as it invites you to continue making new and unique characters to draw out new experiences. At Takaomi Ueno, one of the programming directors, commented in an interview, "The real fun comes from not knowing what the Mii character is thinking, or what’s going to happen next." The eccentric scenarios and Miis become a topic of conversation even outside of gameplay.

Designing YOUR Island

If you have a landscaper or designer in your heart, this is the game for you. Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream offers similar gameplay mechanics to beloved games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Pokémon Pokopia, allowing players to construct and customize their islands to their liking. You can customize buildings, terraform your island, and install objects throughout your island that your Miis will interact with. This really allows all the work you put into character creation and individualizing to shine through, rewarding the continuous trial of new objects and different types of characters.

Keep Coming Back for More!

The game truly shines in its ability to let users essentially act as caretakers of a terrarium of sorts, spicing up the islanders' relationships, landscape, and enjoying the resulting displays. However, certain aspects of gameplay can become repetitive over time, as with any life simulator. The game gives users daily incentives to return, and even at 20 hours of gameplay, users will consistently find themselves faced with unique, quirky moments, giving this game nearly limitless playability. 

So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to start your own island!