Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream demo impressions – Reader’s Feature

One of the last first party games for the original Switch has a free demo you can download now, as a reader examines the pros and cons of next month’s new game.

When gaming publications started detailing their experiences previewing Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream last week, I assumed it would be a wait to get the same opportunity, if we got one at all. So when this demo shadow-dropped almost immediately afterwards, it caught me off guard in the best way. This has been my most anticipated game of the year, so any opportunity to preview it is a massive privilege.

Essentially a short prologue to the full game, it does a solid job of introducing the core mechanics while letting you actually play around with them without feeling heavy-handed. When you’ve finished the demo, you’ll have a strong understanding of how to manage your residents and interact with them.

The main restriction is the three Mii cap. While that sounds really limited, it’s just enough to complete the basic tutorial and unlock the first two buildings. In the full game you need five residents to unlock the flagship Island Designer, so the demo basically puts you in the perfect position come launch day, as your demo progress transfers to the full game.

Being able to shorten the time it takes to unlock the new feature makes this worth the download alone. I’d recommend making the remaining two Mii in the console’s Mii Maker and then importing them into the full game on release day.

The biggest highlight is simply watching the Mii of my friends interact with each other. The charm of Tomodachi Life is built around wacky interactions and relationships, and seeing this effectively translated to the Switch reminds me of exactly what I loved about the 3DS original, as within minutes I was grinning at the descriptions of what my Mii were talking about.

The clothing shop also has a surprisingly large amount of clothes to buy for your Mii, and there’s a genuinely cute bonus costume as a reward for completing the demo. LGBT customisability (which was lacking in the 3DS game) is also really strong and is done in a way that’s both detailed for those who want LGBT Mii and simple to ignore for anyone who doesn’t.

The only major objective flaw with the demo game is that you’re only able to use the touchscreen when making the Mii. Also, the frame rate/pacing felt slightly off in my eyes, although your mileage may vary with that.

The biggest flaw is how the demo ends. It takes roughly an hour to complete, which totally makes sense for the type of game this is. However, after giving your Mii an outfit the island essentially freezes. The Mii stay inside their homes and all dialogue becomes focused on what you’ll be able to do in the full game.

While demos are advertisements for games, I can’t remember a recent one quite as blatant about it as this, and the way the Mii talk feels at odds with the tone of the game. It’s frustrating because the bulk of the demo gives you the limited freedom to orchestrate dynamic interactions between three Mii and watch them explore the island. And yet just as it starts to soar, its wings get cut off and it becomes a semi-interactive billboard.

Overall, I’m thrilled that this exists and it does exactly what it needs to do in order to sell you on the full game. However, the unnecessarily restrictive post-demo kills all momentum and makes me think that it should’ve been released on the 9th of April, when you can pre-download the full game.

By reader Connor Lamb

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