Living the Dream Review Round-Up

Reviews Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, the long-awaited sequel to Nintendo's cursed Mii medley, and it's a clear step-up from the 3DS original. At the time of writing, it boasts a total score of 77 on Metacritic with 18 verified reviews, earning it a 'Strong' rating on OpenCritic.

For comparison, here's how it stacks up to the first game and other iconic life sim sandboxes:

Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 90
Pokémon Pokopia / Stardew Valley — 89
Harvest Moon: Back to Nature – 82
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream – 77
Tomodachi Life – 71

What the critics are saying

Writing for TheGamer, my colleague and main features editor Jed King gave the game four stars, praising the “exquisitely detailed” creation tools and “weird sense of humor”, while also criticizing the “sloppy” progression system and repetitive dialogue. Unfortunately, he also got Miis to call the Skibidi toilet.

Our sister site ScreenRant also scored the game 8/10, noting the wealth of minigames and interaction on offer. However, in contrast, they praised the game for having “very few repetitive dialogue situations”.

The more you put into this game, the more you will get out of it. To me, it already feels like it has all the ingredients to become another cult classic masterpiece – The Jade King.

“It's been a lot of fun getting invested in their little lives, and I can see myself coming back to the game for a long time,” wrote senior writer Carrie Lambertsen. “Overall, I think Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is worth the wait and the hype.”

Catra in Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream.

IGN went a little lower, scoring the game 7/10. In his review, Nintendo Voice Chat host Logan Plant highlighted the “genuinely hilarious” Miis and “unhinged” comedy, but bemoaned the “extremely restricted sharing capabilities” as “a huge downgrade from the 3DS version”, which made the overall experience “feel lethargic and detached.”

“Tomodachi Life is a deeply funny and equally personal civilization simulator,” reads Logan Plant's verdict. “It's really fun to create cartoonish renditions of your friends, family members, favorite celebrities, and characters and see what absurd situations and relationships unfold when you mix them all together.”

Digitally Downloaded – 5/5.
TheGamer – 4/5.
ScreenRant – 8/10.
GameRadar+ – 4/5.
IGN – 7/10.
Sports Informer – 7/10.
Gamereactor UK – 7/10.
Giant Bomb – 3.5/5.

The lowest review at the time of writing is 7/10, with IGN, Gamereactor UK, Game Informer, and Giant Bomb all giving it a score of 70/100 on Metacritic, while Digitally Downloaded gave it a perfect five-star review. “Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is somehow a satire of all these life simulator games and also the most entertaining one that I actually want to keep coming back to,” wrote Editor-in-Chief Matt Ace. “It's really crazy, chaotic fun, and every second of it is fun.”