Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream First Preview
Next month, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream comes out for the Nintendo Switch. We were lucky enough to get to check out the game and now can share with you our first impressions of it. Do you want to live the dream?
In Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, you have an island and you are tasked with moving Mii characters onto it and building it up. Tomodachi Life is a simulation game like Animal Crossing or Pokopia. Though in this sim you play as yourself, an unseen being that creates the Mii characters and then builds the island. Your job is to keep the Mii characters happy by providing them home and comforts.
Tomodachi Life is less serious than Animal Crossing or Pokopia. The quirky sense of humor is in everything, especially in the Miis. The game features the famous Mii characters that the Wii introduced, which is a rush of nostalgia I’m not sure I was prepared for. For the highs of the Wii and the Ninendo 3DS, and the lows of the Wii U, Miis were a constant across both. You’d be hard pressed to find someone that didn’t enjoy creating and playing with Miis. It is worth noting here, while talking about old consoles, that there was a 3DS Tomodachi Life game and while Living the Dream is similar to that game, Nintendo definitely built on that and expanded it.
Like the 3DS game before it, this game is incredibly addictive. While we might still be working on our Pokopia towns, most life simulation fans have finished that story and the only thing keeping us going over there is creative freedom. And while it was one of the best games Nintendo has ever put out, most of us are barely holding onto Animal Crossing: New Horizons. To that end, there is always room for something new on the Nintendo Switch, especially in the life simulation space. This game, at least so far, has filled that space. There’s always something to see and do in Tomodachi Life. We’ve been purposefully vague so far as we write this preview, and will continue to be vague as you read on – we don’t want to spoil anything just yet, and while our final review will include a bit more details, we really just want to drive home one thing right now: at the time of this preview, this game is quite fun, and incredibly addicting.
Anyone can jump into Tomodachi Life Living the Dream and play it. Creating Mii characters is easy and the game’s controls are pretty straight forward. The Mii are in control of themselves most of the time. You’ll still have plenty to do in this game, like giving them food and items, or getting them to meet other Miis. You are overseeing their lives, remember, not always directly dictating them.
There are so many things to highlight, and at this point we just cannot comment on them all. We love the game’s sense of humor, and the creation aspect of the game is next level. In fact, our time with Tomodachi Life so far has us hopping that the Animal Crossing series will take some cues from Living the Dream. There are some things that Tomodachi Life does that are actually better than Animal Crossing, like being able to create items from scratch that your Miis can use or wear. Those with even a small amount of creative juice in their body are going to have a blast exploring the options in Tomodachi Life.
Ever since we got a hold of Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, its been almost impossible to play anything else. And when we’re not playing it, we wonder what our Miis are up to. When we finally pickup our Nintendo Switch 2 again and go back into our world to check up on things, hours pass as we create and engage with this delightful, colorful world. The ultimate question will be how long that charm lasts. Is it surface level, or will it continue as we dive deeper and deeper into the experience?
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream looks like its going to be an excellent addition to the Nintendo Switch’s library next month.
A digital code was provided by Nintendo Canada. Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream comes out on April 16th, 2026.
Article By Daniel Fugate
