Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream review – Wonderfully stupid

Growing up, one of the reasons I was such a die-hard Nintendo kid was that it was always doing things differently.

Whether that was the games they developed or the hardware they were on, the Nintendo logo was one that promised something quirky and off-the-wall.

And while the quality of Nintendo games is as high as ever in the Switch era, I feel as if some of that bizarre Nintendo magic has been missing; Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is a wonderfully stupid return to it.

For anyone unfamiliar with Tomodachi Life, the simplest way to describe it is that it's The Sims but with Miis.

Living the Dream places you in the godlike role of taking charge of a desert island, plonking your lovingly hand-crafted Miis into paradise and watching them do whatever it is that Miis get up to.

By now, the boundless creativity of some players has been plastered all over social media, with celebrities, fictional characters and more interacting in the Living the Dream demo.

Whether it's Death Stranding's Sam and Higgs having a homoerotic back and forth, or Hatsune Miku discussing "old man yaoi," Tomodachi Life is a vessel for the most inane, bottom-of-the-barrel humour (complimentary).

Call me a child, but watching these Miis swear at each other and talk up a varying scale of NSFW topics is a riot, and as soon as the embargo rolls around, I will be barraging my friends with the screenshots I've been taking.

This time around, your Miis quite literally have more life to them, as Miis can now woo one another, get married and even have children.

As you progress, you'll unlock new mechanics for your island, such as new shops and new activities.

Beyond giving you more ways to dress your Miis up or decorate their houses, the game also gives them more things to do, and more things to talk about.

Naturally, everyone plays games differently, but I have found that Tomodachi Life is not a game one can – or should – play for hours at a time.

Instead, it's best enjoyed by dropping in and out for 30-40 minutes every day, checking in on what's troubling your Miis, zhuzhing up your island, and just observing their antics as one would a litter of particularly brainless puppies.

More than many games, Tomodachi Life is built for certain types of players, and less so for others.

It's fairly barebones, in a sense. Like modern art, Tomodachi Life will meet you halfway and no further. What you take out of this game is equal to what you are willing to put in.

But Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is so dripping with charm that I found it totally impossible not to be taken by this game.

From the genuinely very funny writing to the over the top, dramatic cutscenes that play out, there's so much to enjoy about this game, and it's only going to get better once the whole world is playing.

It's exactly the kind of bizarro experience that I came to expect from the Nintendo of old, and delights the adult me just as much as it would have done the child me.

It won't be for everyone. There's no story and there's no action, and if those things are a must for you, this game is effectively a fruitless pursuit.

Even I can tell that, as much fondness as I have for this game, it's not going to be something I'll be diving into with abandon in the same way as I have for the likes of Animal Crossing in days gone by.

But I also know that, deep down, I am not the target market for Tomodachi Life, and I salute those for whom this game has been so lovingly crafted.

For all the real Tomodachi freaks out there who have been waiting more than a decade for a sequel, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is everything you could hope for and more, and I cannot wait to see the ridiculous nonsense you are all about to pump out.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream releases on Nintendo Switch consoles on 16 April 2026.

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