IsabellaHayes
Nearly 13 years after the release of the iconic original “Tomodachi Life” game, Nintendo finally ended the long wait for a new installment in the series with “Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream.” 

“Tomodachi Life” (“tomodachi” being Japanese for “friends”) is a social simulator game in which the player creates and manages Miis — avatars that can be customized to look like family members, friends, fictional characters, celebrities or anyone else you can think of. 

Miis develop lives of their own, forming relationships with each other and even falling in love and starting families. The series is known for its quirky sense of humor and the absurd situations Miis get themselves into. The fun lies in taking care of your Miis and watching how their lives play out. 

Released on April 16 and available on the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 for $59.99, “Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream” comes with a multitude of fresh new features that make the price tag worthwhile. Most notably, the game allows for more customization and control over your Miis and island than ever before. 

The new ability to force interactions between Miis gives you great power over their relationships, especially in comparison to the original game where Miis only meet by chance. 

Instead of living in one big apartment building like before, Miis each have separate houses of their own that can be placed anywhere on your island. And that’s not all —  Miis can now look exactly how you want them to with the new face paint feature, and custom objects, clothing, food, pets and home exteriors can be created using the Palette House. The game is also comparatively more inclusive with a broader range of skin tones and hair and eye colors, as well as the ability to select Miis’ dating preferences and pronouns.

Though its new features are definitely innovative and entertaining, certain aspects of “Living the Dream” feel directly copied over from “Animal Crossing: New Horizons,” another Nintendo life simulator game released in 2020 — namely, the island decorating features. 

The ability to rearrange buildings, pave paths, plant trees, build fences and place objects is useful for making your island aesthetically pleasing, but feel far too reminiscent of “Animal Crossing” and seem to be pandering to a crowd that enjoys decorating games when the focus should stay on the social simulator aspect. Some decorative objects and clothing items are even identical or nearly identical to ones found in “New Horizons,” which feels a bit lazy on the developers’ part.

Some fan-favorite components of the original “Tomodachi Life,” such as the Concert Hall where Miis could perform silly songs, Quirky Questions, Judgment Bay, the Rankings Board, raising babies and the ability to share Miis with other players using QR codes were neglected from “Living the Dream.” Hopefully, Nintendo will listen to fans’ pleas and decide to add some of these back in future updates.

Though the original “Tomodachi Life” will always hold a special place in fans’ hearts, “Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream” is absolutely worth a play. With its all-new features and fresh spin on the series, you’ll surely be living the dream.