Tomodachi Life: A Dream Life, the first days

Imagine moving, or rather, being deported, to a remote island in the ocean. An atoll cut off from the world, managed by an impalpable entity that will shape your interests, your knowledge, and the environment around you. No studying, working, or commitments of any kind; you'll just have to laze around all day and invent strange ways to pass the time for the amusement of this omniscient and omnipresent idol. How long can you resist before losing your mind? Would it even make sense to stay sane? Probably not, which is why the Miis of Tomodachi Life: A Dream Life are already born with a few screws loose.

Tomodachi Life: A Dream Life, the Player's Hand and the Lives of the Miis

The premise of Nintendo's title, due out in April on Switch, is not much different from your neighborhood The Sims on paper. Without directly controlling them, we will have the task of "enriching" the lives of the Miis inhabiting the island. We will have to set up their private spaces and the ever-expanding streets of the town, guide them in developing their personalities, stimulate them with various gifts, help them in times of doubt and need, give them suggestions, or literally drag them where we deem most appropriate. The reason? To create a prosperous community and admire their extravagant interactions.

The Miis have many things in common with the animals of Animal Crossing: not a single (sensible) thought crosses their minds. No matter what we try to instill in them, they will do everything to misunderstand and go off on tangents, with reactions as stupid as they are hilarious. But this is also their charm, as fans of the first installment (second, if we count Tomodachi Collection for DS) from the 3DS era well know.

Once generated, a Mii is little more than a blank canvas. True, we can set a series of parameters that will define their character, tone, and cadence of voice, with a rather elaborate text-to-speech, but it's not much to work with. By offering them objects they like and fulfilling their requests, however, they will become happier and happier, until they level up. At that point, we can teach them a hobby, a catchphrase, a posture, ways of walking, eating, expressing their emotions... All these elements will influence their tastes, speech, temperament, affinities with neighbors, creating rather detailed virtual avatars. Within the limits of a Mii and a light experience like Tomodachi Life, of course.

The first hours fly by, with the game alternating between introducing new inhabitants and new mechanics, allowing you to metabolize the numerous dynamics that govern life on the island. Once you reach six castaways, you will have full control of the situation, with the ability to reshape the map's morphology and the position of houses and structures as you wish. There are further surprises once new milestones are reached, and something like ten thousand items including food, clothing, furniture, decorations, and other trinkets to buy in stores or find around. Not to mention the original designs, customizable in detail and exchangeable with other players. The most creative will lose their minds. Or you can be like me, stick three apples, not even peeled, stem included, on a slice of sponge cake and call it "apple pie."

Tomodachi Life: A Dream Life, How to Spend Your Days, and How to Make the Miis Spend Theirs

So what do you do in Tomodachi Life: A Dream Life? Not much, to be honest. It's a quiet life, lulled by the waves and furrowed by the latest eccentricity that has popped into the minds of your protégés. The Miis are truly funny, and you can spend entire days following their antics. By indulging them or giving them random things, always in line with their "style," they will reward you with money and "fluffballs," which we will use to rank up and unlock new items for the catalog. If you don't know what to do, listen to the Miis; they will always have something to ask you, and sometimes even projects to propose.

They will jealously guard everything you've entrusted to them, and you'll often see them sharing their passions with friends and acquaintances, but they will never make the first move with strangers. After we've given them a "push," and they've arbitrarily decided whether they're compatible or not with the other, they might consider evolving the relationship, asking us what to discuss. Well, this seems like an excellent opportunity to tell you about the island's "vocabulary." Every term you teach the Miis will become part of popular slang, and you'll find it quoted at random moments, sometimes even when listening to their conversations. From moonlit walks where the benefits of a handle applied to underwater diving are debated, to campfire chants in honor of Bionicle. It makes no sense, but it's hilarious.

Anyway, if two Miis find each other amusing (it doesn't always work), they will become friends, and might even decide to live together. If it's love at first sight, they'll move on to engagement and marriage, children included, but that hasn't happened in my game yet. Some couples, yes, with affectionate nicknames and all, but nothing serious. The game keeps track of an enormous amount of information for each character, and this is commendable, however, sometimes it seems to lose its way.

Among the inhabitants of my village, for example, we find Samus (that Samus), and when one of the other Miis wanted to befriend her, I suggested he talk about Metroid. It worked, and now they're buddies. Another tried shortly after, with the same topic, and now magically she didn't like him anymore. Another of my Miis is listed as "open and sociable," yet he's always in his room, alone, admiring his toy car and the camel included in the desert-themed furniture set. The same individual lives with a companion he bonded with on day one. One day their relationship changes to "incompatible." I investigate, and find them giggling in front of the TV. I force an interaction, and they are happy and content. In fact, the status now says "not very pleasant." I deduce that either they are unreliable creatures, as clumsy as they are fickle, or there's some difficulty in cross-referencing data. All intentional? Who knows.

The first impressions with Tomodachi Life: A Dream Life are still more than positive. I believe I've already sampled the bulk of the package, but I feel there are still a lot of solutions to expand and eventually "break" the experience. In addition to hundreds of items to collect. This curious social experiment knows how to entertain and can drag you into its strange atmospheres for hours; let's see if it will hold up in the long term.