I have been in a gaming rut recently. When it comes to new games, I feel I’m not as invested as I usually am. Sure, some of that is my financial state, and some is probably my mental state, but there’s not a lot coming out lately that makes me think I have to play it. Because of that, I’m playing older games more than any other time in my life. That all said, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is feeling different enough to truly get me excited.
While I won’t deny that, from a quality standpoint, there have been a lot of great video games in the last couple of years, I feel there hasn’t been anything to wholly engross me. While games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Astro Bot have been really good experiences I enjoyed a lot, I have been missing that game that I absolutely latch onto. With Tomodachi Life, its odd scenarios and flashes of Animal Crossing might be exactly what I need.
Get as Weird as Possible
Like so many others, the thing about Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream that stands out the most to me is the inhabitants of your island and the crazy scenarios they get into. Many games today feel like they’re too safe, especially when you exclude indies. In this case, we’ve got a game that is playing on the strength of weird and dream-like scenarios, and that nature of not being able to expect what comes next is what I’m most excited for.
While I’ve never played the original game on Nintendo 3DS, I always had the expectation that Tomodachi Life would be like a more zany take on some kind of reality show. On one side, we’ve seen what it’s like when the Miis become friends and start developing crushes on each other, but is there a situation where they will hate each other? Instead of a love triangle, can there be a mini war started between villagers who prefer hot dogs over hamburgers? When it comes to their interactions, I want the Miis to be as unexpected as possible.
Knowing Nintendo, we might not get the negative side of interactions as much, but still, the more things that surprise you as you play, the better off this game will be.
A Hint of Animal Crossing to Get Things Moving
It’s kind of wild that after the breakout success Animal Crossing: New Horizons had during the pandemic, we haven’t heard anything about the next title, right? Sure, that game got a Switch 2 update, but Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream kind of feels like this is being put in place to tide over fans of that series for now, and I think it’s a great move.
There may be no mundane chores here that get people coming back day after day in Animal Crossing, but Tomodachi Life’s island building looks to allow you to have much more customization, and with that, even more cases to make the island of your meme dreams. Personally, I’ve never been much of a person for highly customizing aspects of a game, but between this and the character customization harkening back to the days of Mii creation, which had me make things like a character I named Gerbil Man, I think I’m going to try and let my creativity fly this time around.
Who knows just how much Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream will actually blow me away when it comes out. It’s hard to imagine it being a game of the year contender, but that’s not what I need right now. I want a game that is pure fun and allows me to be a little more creative. If I can do that while getting some laughs along the way, I think Tomodachi Life will deliver exactly what I want.
