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The best way to describe the life simulator. Tomodachi Life: Living the dream It's like a strange cross between The Sims and the reality show Big Brother, but even that wouldn't do his special brand of weirdness any favors. There's simply nothing like this bizarre Nintendo Switch exclusive, where you create bombastic Mii characters, drop them on a virtual island, and sit back to watch increasingly strange events unfold.
Review information
Revised platform: nintendo switch 2
Available in: nintendo switch
Release date: April 16, 2026
If you enjoyed the demo or watched the countless popular posts, then you'll love the full game. It's more of the same with everything dialed up to eleven, allowing you to unleash up to 70 characters instead of the three in the demo, and with hundreds more items and objects to discover. There are some glitches, especially for those hoping for a transformative update on Nintendo Switch 2, but living the dream Otherwise, it is a strident moment.
mini mii
The most important thing to know is that this is a fairly hands-on game and is clearly intended to be played in short bursts over an extended period rather than consumed voraciously in one sitting.
The experience begins by walking you through creating your first characters and describing the basics of the character creator in depth. The creation of Miis is a clear highlight, as living the dream offers the most extensive system to manufacture them so far.
The possibilities are practically endless, with dozens of face types, hairstyles, eyebrows, eyes, noses, mouths, etc. Beyond the impressive array of options, seemingly minor additions such as the option to select a separate front and back hairstyle and the addition of ears (a first for Miis) make it easier than ever to capture your desired look.
I set out to create as many TechRadar team members as possible—including everyone from my boss, Rob Dwiar, and senior entertainment writer Lucy Buglass to our iconic editor-at-large, Lance Ulanoff—and never had a problem nailing the look.
It is possible to create more elaborate Miis thanks to the face painting system. Turn your Mii's face into a blank canvas, on which you can freely draw to add everything from small details like makeup and scars to completely new faces based on your wildest dreams.
The only limit here is your artistic ability, and luckily, if you don't know how to draw like me, you'll be able to take advantage of some preset stamps of shapes, faces, and some common foods.
Although it is an option, it is never necessary to start from scratch either. You can clone an existing Mii and then modify it to your liking (a tool I used to create a little Baby Lance) or follow a series of prompts in the form of questions that cycle through the most important visual features. The latter is particularly fun and surprisingly effective, giving you a great, near-perfect base that you can then adjust to perfection.
No matter the creation method chosen, the final stage always involves entering biographical information, including a short personality questionnaire that assigns your character one of several different types to inform their behavior. This doesn't seem too shocking in the grand scheme of things, although I did occasionally notice some differences in how my calm, optimistic Miis and my confident leaders, for example, would react in different situations.
If you can dream it
From there, you'll be unleashed on your island, a customizable tropical paradise that serves as the home of your Miis. Seen from an aerial perspective, they all wander around chatting with each other throughout the day, occasionally retreating to their little houses to rest.
The best
If creating your own Miis wasn't enough, the island itself can be extensively customized with a wide selection of accessories and almost complete freedom over its design. I especially enjoy dropping objects like vending machines and swings, which have their own special animations and possible interactions to discover.
As Animal Crossing: New HorizonsThe game syncs with real-world time, so you'll likely see something different depending on when you choose to log in. Miis will also comment on how much time you've spent in the game recently; If you are gone for more than a few days, you will be greatly missed.
Sometimes the Miis will require some direct interaction, waving at the sky to offer the opportunity to play some basic mini-games such as a quiz in which you must guess obscured objects through their shadows. They're a bit repetitive, but luckily they're entirely optional and have some decent rewards in the random items available if you win. You'll also see lots of little thought bubbles, which you can click on with the on-screen cursor to chat with the Mii or trigger an animated cutscene.
Sometimes they will also ask you for advice or guidance, which gives you another route to personalize their behavior.
Completing tasks for your Miis often awards some cash and bright yellow liquid happiness, increasing their individual happiness level. Increasing happiness unlocks new traits and the option to give them items to play with, different animations to walk with, new catchphrases to say, and more. In addition to this, Miis have a hunger level to manage. They won't die if you starve them or something, but offering them good food regularly is a sure way to cultivate a lot of happiness easily.
You'll want to keep an eye on this, as it all adds up to an overall island happiness level. This is the main metric of your progress in the game, and as you increase your happiness, a handful of unique buildings are unlocked. This includes a clothing store to dress up your Miis and a workshop that allows you to create your own items using an extensive digital canvas.
There comes a point where it feels like you've seen most of what the game has to offer, but it still finds strange new ways to surprise you. There are many possible interactions with Mii: they can form relationships, become lifelong enemies, live together, and much more. Events can also happen off-screen, which led to some pretty funny cases where I logged in to find that Miis had radically altered their appearance with new hairstyles or started a fight with an old friend.
However, the lack of Nintendo Switch 2-specific features is certainly a shame. For some reason, Nintendo has chosen to release living the dream solely for the original Switch, rather than also offering a dedicated version of the Switch 2. It can be played backwards and benefits from slightly brighter visuals, but the lack of support for features like Joy-Con 2 mouse control is notable and seems like a huge missed opportunity given how many mechanics involve drawing.
Even those using the original Switch will notice that touchscreen support is also quite limited. You can tap icons in the character creator or drag your fingers across the screen to pet a Miis' head, but that's basically it – it's a shame that pressing different options in on-screen pop-ups can be easily accomplished with a quick tap in handheld mode.
Should I play Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream?
Play if…
Don't play it if…
Accessibility features
Tomodachi Life: Living the dream It doesn't have a dedicated accessibility menu and, like other games developed by Nintendo, has very few settings.
Your only real options are to invert the camera's X-axis and adjust the levels of individual sounds. Dialogue in the game is predominantly conveyed through text, although you cannot customize its appearance in any way.
How I Reviewed Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream
I played more than 15 hours of Tomodachi Life: Living the dream on Nintendo Switch 2, predominantly in handheld mode using the Joy-Con 2 controllers and relying on the system's built-in speakers for sound.
During my time with the game, I created countless Mii characters and experimented with as many as possible, comparing it to the previous entry. Tomodachi's life on Nintendo 3DS and other life simulation games like The Sims 4.
First review in March 2026
