'Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream': Does It Recreate The Magic?
- Sanya Jan
- 2 hours ago
- 6 min read
Many of us prayed for times like these, ecstatic to welcome Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream (2026) to our Switch screens. The long-awaited sequel to the 3DS game Tomodachi Life (2013) has garnered much attention over the past few years, with fans impatiently anticipating the Switch 2 sequel with a little pink heart bubble above their head. Living the Dream sold over 3.8 million copies in just the first two weeks – but does it truly live up to the hype? Does it manage to recreate the "Tomodachi Life" vibe which the first game creates, or are we still going to chase that nostalgia back to the original game?
Living the Dream certainly introduced its fair share of changes, with one of the most prominent being the player’s manipulation of social interactions. In the original game, the player could only permit characters to pursue relationships, but could not manipulate the beginnings, nor development of such occurrences. In Living the Dream, the player can quite literally plonk one Mii next to another, causing an interaction between the two. Personally, I love this feature, since it gives the player more agency in their relationships; if the player desperately wants two characters to interact, they do have the ability to make them meet, but the game retains the idea that the player cannot control how the relationship develops. If you did, in fact, plonk your two Miis down together and they hate each other, there isn’t much you can do about that other than forcing them to keep running into each other and hope for the best. Meanwhile, players who wish to play the game without manipulating social interactions, like in the previous title, can still watch them unfold without intervening.
The system’s ranged customisation is also a huge upgrade from the original game. In terms of character customisation, the player can now select fringes and the back of hair separately, with more varied options of style and colour to represent yourself and others with truer accuracy. The game even offers detailed drawing customisation for the avid artists (or those who are hyper-obsessed with having their characters look true to life), where the player can draw on their Miis by hand. The island itself is also a domain of creativity; players can personalise the island’s design as they wish, in a way that almost resembles Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020). While I do wish that there were more objects for islanders to interact with, with the summer/autumn updates (depending on your location), it seems that seasonal additions will continue to be added to the game, so I won’t be too quick to judge on that front.
One of my favourite features in the new game is the option of Miis moving in together even if they are not married. Some of the conversations that can erupt from the roommate scenarios are comedic gold – such as gathering around to find out who is the best example of a “charmer” (or any other concept imaginable, from innocent to explicit), domestic chores like cooking together, or fighting for the bathroom. The new interactions have been a breath of fresh air since they haven’t been reworked from the original, but invented anew. All of the drama in my game so far has come from one home housing eight people across four different interests of mine, bringing nothing but chaos to my everyday interactions through fights, romance and silly conversations.
Another great feature in Living the Dream is the new mini games to play with the Miis. Shadow, Pixel and Zoom Quizzes were never of interest to me, so the green-lined interactions would always go unattended in my original copy. However, of the newly introduced mini-games, I’m a sucker for the Latte Art Quiz and Poke the Ferris Wheel in particular. The list of new introductions includes: Bowling, Coin Spin, Moving Cups, No Repeats, Odd One Out, Red Light, Green Light, Poke the Ferris Wheel and Latte Art Quiz. The extended list means that there’s a mini-game for everyone, and the little green lines won’t always make you want to pop a blood vessel.
One of the categories which was most anticipated in Living the Dream was romance, however the romantic interactions seem slightly staler than the original game. I was hopeful, given that same-sex relationships were now an option in the game, but the development of relationships seems relatively grey. The ways that the Miis fall in love is perfect, comical and a little bit absurd at times. But the development of romance afterwards seems to lose its colour. Confessions can only take place in three specific locations, with a fourth option of picking anywhere on the island, while proposals only occur in Mii’s residences. Introducing new settings could have definitely been an option – a garden, a cruise ship (exclusive access for proposals/confessions) or the beach are just a few suggestions. Although the voice lines and methods of proposals have been adapted and improved, the locations offered more unique methods of confessing, while various proposal options set an atmosphere for the Miis’s romance, which is limited in their homes, especially if you have forgotten to change your Mii’s room and they decide it’s appropriate to propose to their spouse in a jail cell (guilty, my first proposal was in a jail cell apartment). Meanwhile, set-ups for romantic relationships seem to have been pulled altogether, which was another fun way for relationships to develop. The romance scene, once you fall in love, seems slightly drab in Living the Dream, lacking the creative flair that the developers used for initially falling in love.
With the loss of more compelling romance, in return we did get quirks, which is arguably one of the most interesting features in the game. Characters can come into their own much more in Living the Dream, becoming closer to their original inspiration through an array of character traits which they express in their daily lives. Their individual personalities shine through much more than with just their original personality categorisation, which makes each Mii feel vastly different to one another. Having super quirky Miis is also great when they start fighting with each other and they dissect each other’s quirks with vengeance while yelling out at sea.
Living the Dream also gave Miis freedom of speech, at the discretion of the player. Each time a Mii asks the player to fill in one of the little bubbles when asking a question, it catalogues the person, thing or action written in, so that the islanders can use it in their everyday lives. This feature is so entertaining; the amount of Bernardo Silva fanclub meetings I’ve accidentally walked into, just because I typed his name in once, is many more times than I should have. The island’s dictionary can catalogue a variety of words, with nothing off the charts (and I’m assuming this is why Nintendo believed it to be necessary for screen recordings to not be transferable to devices). Letting the Miis loose with the vocabulary of your choice is one of the best parts of the game, given that they can mix together the most diabolical sentences and proclaim them without batting an eye.
While Nintendo have made many changes to the game, for better or for worse, there are also things which have been kept exactly the same, perhaps to recreate some of the childhood nostalgia which we’re all seeking from the game. One feature which I’m particularly grateful they kept was Mii News Network (MNN), which broadcasts daily news on the island. Seeing what ridiculous things the Miis have cooked up off the screen is always hilarious to see, especially when a certain Mii is central to the story, and an ex of theirs delivers a snarky comment after hearing it. It brings me the same sense of nostalgia as the original game does, where in both versions I love seeing the impossible scenarios my Miis have gotten into.
The interactions which Miis can have with food have also retained the same kind of structure: two foods that are absolutely adored, three other favourites and two which are detested, though the animations for each have changed. With the introduction of a huge menu of food and drink options, there are even more chances to find out your Miis taste, which is especially funny when feeding your lookalike something you love in real life, to find out that they absolutely detest you for bringing the plate anywhere near them.
So, all changes and similarities considered, does it recreate the magic Tomodachi Life which all of us were chasing? My initial thoughts are that it does, since I get the same child-like joy from watching my Miis interact and how their relationships develop, just as in the original. However, certain aspects of the game do seem to be empty or unfinished, such as the romance department or the gifting section. I have hope that the game will continue to develop, given the introduction of new seasonal items which came with the recent update, but for now, we shall wait for further advancements, and can enjoy the improvements made to the game, one Mii interaction at a time.
Edited by Joanne Baranga, Gaming Editor
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