Tomodachi Life was the last thing I expected to make an appearance at this week’s Nintendo Direct. I recently wrote about how much I wanted to see the decade-old life sim remastered for Switch 2, but not in my wildest dreams did I actually expect to see the series return. But here we are.
It was confirmed earlier today that Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream will be released for the Nintendo Switch – and presumably its successor – in 2026, and it appears to be an ambitious sequel to the cult classic that takes its fever dream island experience to a whole new level.
Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream Is Already The Weirdest Switch 2 Game
The second I saw a Mii-shaped creature dozing on a deckchair and palm trees flowing in the breeze, I knew in my heart of hearts that we were looking at a new Tomodachi Life. It’s kinda like the distant cousin of Animal Crossing your parents complain about during family parties because they end up saying something off-colour, but you can’t help but love them anyway.
I’m curious if Miis of your friends will be available to invade your island, and with time, step foot into your dreams.
If you didn’t play the original Tomodachi Life, it had you create Miis and move them into a big apartment building on a mysterious island. There were locations surrounding it they could go and visit whenever they liked, but you would largely view these events through scenes that you could interact with and influence in ludicrous ways. There was no telling what exactly the Miis might do next, encouraging you to check in on, treat them, and push them into potential relationships. It was basically a prison, but nobody really minded the locked-up part.
What made it truly special was the Miis you made to populate your island and how you could have family members shacking up with celebrities and serial killers, or your closest friend getting their flirt on with your nan by gifting them a bowl of pasta. It was absurd; vibes that the sequel is already building on in spectacular ways.
I Cannot Wait To Put My Family And Friends Through Hell In Tomodachi Life 2
Living The Dream’s reveal trailer is incredibly brief, so there’s only so much we can speculate on here in terms of gameplay, but it sure does seem like we’ll be able to explore of our own accord this time around. Perhaps we can create a main avatar who we control for most of the game alongside the occupants who also call the island home, or maybe the island is going to dream them up for us.
Each resident appears to have their own house, while there are other facilities that look like clothing stores, supermarkets, a news tour, and somewhere you can pick up furniture. Plenty of communal areas too, for smelling flowers (not like that, Carol) and challenging your neighbours to a spot of breakdancing. Like I said, it’s ludicrously absurd.
Fingers crossed that Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream lets you be gay. Which was sadly not a thing in the original.
There’s also the subtitle to consider, which means the dreams of your individual Miis might play a larger role this time around. Before they were essentially cutscenes, but now they could take the form of playable minigames with distinct unlockables or entire new parts of the world not glimpsed in the reveal. I don’t need to know anything else to be sold on Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream, because much like the original, the draw comes from how it can surprise, disgust, and intrigue you in equal measure.
While the original could grow repetitive after a dozen or so hours, there was a giant appeal to checking on your Miis every couple of days to see what they’d gotten up to, whether you’d see them getting married, staging an uprising, or getting too into eating cheese and rotting in bed. Big mood on that last one. I’m not entirely sure what to expect from this sequel, but it is in this surreal identity where Tomodachi Life finds so much of its brilliance.
