Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream review for Nintendo Switch

Tomodachi Life is one of those games that you can’t really describe. It’s a wacky and zany pseudo life simulation game with a boatload of freedom to what you can make your residents do. With the original having been released on the Nintendo 3DS, it garnered a pretty big cult following. To the surprise of basically everybody, Nintendo dropped a trailer in a Direct for Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream for Nintendo Switch. Featuring more creativity than before, the lead up to release was an exciting one, especially with a demo to give you a taste of what awaited you in the full release.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream features a completely censor-free experience, albeit at the cost of Mii sharing like before. Removing a censor and giving you full control over a lot of the things you’re allowed to draw into the game is a bold choice but allows players more freedom than ever before to really enjoy their islands. From being able to draw a pack of AA batteries to having your Miis discuss things like the state of PC hardware prices, the only limit to what goes on is your personal limits.

That said, this does come with a little bit of a drawback. As previously mentioned, you can no longer share Miis via QR codes or anything of the sort. There is a pretty in-depth makeup/paint system similar to Miitopia, so you can still design your own super detailed characters, but you cannot share them. Importing Miis from Miitopia does work, even from the demo, but they do not carry over any detail from the makeup section of that game. This is a bummer, but with the lack of censor in the game, I can’t say I’m too surprised to see Nintendo make this decision.

The island designing aspects of the game are surprisingly good for what I was expecting. You can change paths, move structures around, add decorations, etc. It’s not quite an Animal Crossing or Pokopia anything like that, but it’s enough to let you add your own personal flairs to your island. It’s not an afterthought, but it’s not gonna let you totally terraform it to whatever shapes/styles you want. It’s a neat little feature to distinguish your playthrough from say a friend’s or something.

Seeing as this release is a Switch 1 title, it is playable on Switch 2 as well, and it looks really good while maintaining a consistently smooth performance. It is worth mentioning that during my time with Living the Dream, I played entirely on a Switch 2, so my experiences may vary from someone running on say an original Switch console from 2017. Regardless of that, the game looks great, runs smoothly, and scales pretty well on a 4K display. If there was any sort of pixelating on my TV, I could not particularly tell. Granted, it’s likely you probably aren’t bothered by how smoothly Tomodachi Life of all games runs, but it’s still something worth mentioning for those that do.

As you continue to play, you’ll unlock new gifts and upgrades for your island, including things like giving your Miis a new style of walking, new stores, and more. It’s a fairly straightforward and simple process, so you should find getting all sorts of goodies and new structures pretty easy. The more you unlock, the more you can show your friends with 2 player local co-op. It doesn’t have a super in depth multiplayer (nor does it support online), but given the type of game Tomodachi Life is, that’s not particularly an issue. You can trade Miis locally from each other, so if one of your friends is fairly creative and you may not be (this is me, I cannot draw a nice Mii to save my life), you can get a cool character from them instead.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is a fun and simple package with an absolute boatload of charm for those interested in that style of gameplay. It’s a simulation style game similar to playing with dolls, but in a “You’re definitely a god” kind of way. While it is a Nintendo Switch title, it functions completely normally on Switch 2. That said, don’t expect to be using the Joy-Con 2 Mouse controls for anything because they’re not supported as there is no Switch 2 edition of the game.

It’s an interesting title full of whimsy and charm that targets a specific style of audience, but when it’s with that audience, it really clicks. If you’re seeking a fairly mindless fun time but aren’t sure about the full release, feel free to check out the demo before you buy.

Note: Nintendo provided us with a Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream code for review purposes.

Click Here to buy Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream on Amazon