Nintendo dove deep this morning on its upcoming simulation game, Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream. The Switch game (notably not Switch 2, though Nintendo reminds that you can play it on Switch 2) is a sequel to the 3DS game Tomodachi Life that released in North America in 2014 for 3DS. You can read our review of that game here. Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream releases April 16.
In the game you create Miis and watch them live out their lives on Yoomian Island as you interact with them and create scenarios for the characters to meet and interact. The original game was renowned for being bizarre, and though Living the Dream’s reveal teased some of that strangeness, today’s presentation focused on the more typical parts of the game.
You create the characters using familiar Mii creation tools and can dictate their gender (male, female, or nonbinary) as well as their dating preferences. Unlike previous Mii creation tools, you can now create elements like face paint, and that customization seems to extend to nearly every facet of the game. You can design the exteriors of buildings, the ground, clothing, and even draw pets for the Miis to have. The presentation showed one Mii walking with a hand drawn dog.
Once you have Miis you can select elements of their personalities, gift them quirks like the animations they use to eat, and even dictate familiar phrases they will use. You can also play god and place your Miis next to each other to force them to interact and hopefully become friends. You can even choose what they talk about by typing in topics, which an automated, robotic voice will dictate. You can also push characters to become roommates with up to eight characters being able to live together in one large house.
You can also witness elaborate romantic scenarios. Miis can develop crushes on each other, profess their love, and even be turned down. A scenario in the presentation showed one character being confronted by multiple suitors and having to choose. The way the game works is the Miis are meant to be characters with their own agency so even though you choose elements like where they go and how they do something, like profess their love to their crush, it will be up to the characters to make the final decisions.
At the end of the presentation, Nintendo showcased a wedding scene, and even showed a baby crawling on the ground. It’s unclear if those elements will just be performative visual moments, or if there will be opportunities to create families that birth children who grow up to become their own Miis. The game happens in real time (meaning your Miis will be living their lives even when you’re not playing), so it remains to be seen how that part of the game will work.
Alongside all the character interactions, Nintendo also showed off how much control you have over the design of the island. It feels very Animal Crossing in this way. Different stores sell food, clothing, offer photo gallery opportunities, there is a news station that gives frequent updates, and you can also build and relocate everything on the island, and even change the land mass.
In a complimentary way, it looks like Nintendo is trying to merge elements of The Sims (creating and watching characters live out their lives) and Animal Crossing (living on and designing an island while witness to interpersonal character interactions). We will see if the game can live up to the reputation of either of those franchises when it releases on April 16.
