I was not, in fact, “living the dream”

Nintendo’s Tomodachi Life, originally released for the Nintendo DS in Japan as Tomodachi Collection in 2009 and as Tomodachi Life internationally in 2013 on the Nintendo 3DS, is a quirky series of simulation video games where players served as the caretaker for an island of their own customizable characters known as “Miis.” Players were tasked with helping their Miis make their way through life: solving their issues, playing minigames with them, and observing them interact with one another. 

On April 16, 2026, after thirteen years, Nintendo finally released a third installment into the fan-favorite series, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream,  selling over eight million copies within the first few months of its release. This sequel had long been anticipated by many fans who enjoyed the originals as children; I have personally been a fan since 2017. I ecstatically bought a copy of Living the Dream on release day and after nine long years of waiting, I can finally say…I am disappointed.

In its early stages of gameplay, Living the Dream is actually an enjoyable and almost addictive game. The rush of turning all of my friends, family, and favorite characters into little islanders I could observe and customize hit hard. Its version of “Mii Maker” was certainly an upgrade from the original. It lets players choose from a fine-tuned range of facial features, give their Miis all kinds of hair styles and colors, and even draw custom face paints. Plus, this sequel introduced new features which allowed players to design furniture, housing, and island decorations as well as terraform the island itself, offering a whole new world of creative liberty in comparison to its predecessor. In addition, players could now draw their own interactive items for their Miis and even give them personalized lingo. Admittedly, I had a little too much fun having them spout inside jokes and walk around with handles of vodka. The first few hours of gameplay were the perfect time to explore all of these new mechanics, getting many players hooked early on.

One of the most drastic game design differences between the two games  was how they handled interpersonal relationships between Miis. Tomodachi Life has Miis inquire the player when they want to befriend, ask out, or settle a feud with another Mii. These relationships then progressed naturally without much player input, aside from major transitions such as marriage proposals. Living the Dream approached this gameplay in a slightly different fashion to the original. Miis still could similarly ask the player if they were interested in talking to another Mii; however, where Living the Dream sets itself apart from its forerunner is the player’s ability to instigate such dynamics by forcibly dragging Miis towards each other. You could practically forge any Miii relationship you wanted. You could even guarantee a romantic interest between characters by making them interact with a member of their preferred sex enough times. 

With all of these brand new gameplay mechanics, Living the Dream almost felt like the perfect sequel game at first, yet around twenty hours in, I realized that this game is incredibly repetitive. I came across the same cutscenes numerous times in each sitting. Mechanics that were once fun and fresh rapidly became mundane and tedious—watching my Miis trade packets of Marlboros was only funny the first five times. Not only that, but the progression of my Miis relationships became extremely predictable once I had seen almost every possible interaction. I found myself fast-forwarding through the majority of their conversations since I could already deduce which ones would result in a positive or negative outcome. Although the creative aspects were intriguing at first, constantly creating new items and slang words to keep my island interesting became more of a chore than a fun side quest. This also contributed to the game’s predictability—there was nothing fun about Miis grabbing random items from my inventory when I was the one who made them.

Furthermore, for each new feature Living the Dream introduced, it left a significant part of its predecessor behind. Old gems from the original such as the Concert Hall where Miis could sing, the Rankings Board where Miis were judged in different superlatives, Rap Battles which speak for themselves, and other small minigames were lost in translation between the two games. Of course, I do not expect every little detail to carry over, but these assets added charm to the original game which was not matched by any features in the sequel. I miss seeing my Miis sing in slightly uncanny text-to-speech generated voices and learning who was the most compatible with each other.

My biggest gripe with the game was its lack of randomness. In the original Tomodachi Life, the player had little control over their Mii’s livelihood outside of customization. One of my favorite parts of the original was watching my friends go on dates with celebrities and eat at the island cafe with my favorite characters—it is not a funny coincidence if I am the one initiating these interactions. Additionally, as much as I wanted certain characters to like each other, there was always the possibility that they just did not click. I remember watching one of my Miis building up the courage to ask out their crush only to get rejected. As a kid, I had the bright idea to reload my game, hoping for a different outcome each time, but the game would never let me change their wills. Crushed as I was, it was failures like this which made the game realistic and kept players engaged. If this scenario occurred in the sequel, I could just force the two to interact until I got the answer I wanted. This solution may be satisfying at first, but in the grand scheme of things it removes any sense of challenge from the game. My Miis no longer seemed to have autonomy over their own lives. Tomodachi Life felt like I shrunk a real apartment building full of crazy characters and hid it inside my Nintendo 3DS to observe like a science project. Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream feels like a virtual dollhouse. 

Long story short, my Living the Dream phase lasted a mere two weeks, with most of my gameplay spent during the first few days. I revisited the game a week ago, six months after its release, only to find nothing had really changed. Nintendo has not given or hinted at any major content updates, which is honestly disappointing as someone who waited more than nine years for a new Tomodachi Life game.  Living the Dream was not a total failure.I somewhat appreciated its attempts to innovate past its forerunner; however, for a game that was thirteen years in the making, it just feels unfinished, underwhelming, and a bit disheartening to long-time fans.