Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream Review

The premise has not changed since the 3DS. Put the people you know on an island as Miis, feed them, dress them, and then watch what the game decides they are like. What has changed is how much the island answers back. The Palette House lets you draw clothing and items rather than pick from a list, buildings go where you put them, and Miis now carry pronouns and romantic preferences, so same sex couples and non binary residents are part of the simulation instead of something the 2014 game refused. The comedy still works because it is generated rather than written: a colleague's Mii developing a grudge against a parent's Mii is funnier than any scripted line, and the concert and dream sequences stay surreal in a way Nintendo rarely allows itself.

Two things hold it down. Nothing here is technically ambitious, and the loop wears out, with events repeating and the island turning into a chore list once the residents are settled. The larger miss is online. There is no way to share a Mii or a screenshot with anyone, which removes the exact thing eight million buyers wanted to do with it.