Since their introduction in 2006, I’ve largely considered Miis as creepy little issues. Certain, a few of them are cute–anytime I purchase a brand new Nintendo console, I spend a couple of minutes trying to make my Mii a bit much less offputting–but I would be mendacity if I mentioned I did not really feel a rising sense of dread within the pit of my abdomen the primary time I fired up my Wii U and noticed all of them run towards the display en masse: a tiny stampede of ever-smiling, soulless bobbleheads. I silently judged fellow Animal Crossing: New Leaf gamers who selected to import their Mii’s face moderately than use the sport’s default settings to create a barely less-cursed search for their participant character. If, just a few weeks in the past, you’d requested me my opinion on Miis, I would have most likely responded that they occupy the identical spot in my coronary heart as these freaky little Bitmoji avatars individuals plaster throughout Snapchat.
However after sinking over 50 hours into Tomodachi Life: Residing the Dream, my emotions have accomplished a complete 180. I am going to admit it: I like Miis. Not simply because they’ve gotten cuter (although they’ve). Not simply because there are extra Mii customization choices accessible than ever earlier than (although there are). I like them as a result of in Tomodachi Life: Residing the Dream, Miis really feel alive–far extra alive than the characters I create in The Sims 4 ever have.
The customization was what first hooked me. Whereas The Sims 4 solely has 24 hair-color options–something I have been baffled by for years–Tomodachi Life has 100 shades to select from, all of which can be utilized for Miis’ hair, pores and skin, and eyes. Need a four-eyed Hearthian à la Outer Wilds? You bought it. Need to create Journey Time’s Princess Bubblegum? Straightforward-peasy. Gamers may even select a secondary hair shade for an ombré or highlighted look, and bangs might be styled individually from the remainder of a Mii’s hair. The sport’s customized face-paint possibility permits for infinite prospects solely restricted by the participant’s creativeness and inventive talent.
Then you will have the Palette Home, an unlockable constructing that enables gamers to create fairly actually something they need. The colour choices listed below are endless–players have entry to the complete spectrum of shade and may regulate the shade, tint, and saturation to their coronary heart’s content material. The Palette Home is like Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ customized pattern-maker on steroids. Utilizing the Palette Home, gamers can create customized garments, customized homes (with customized flooring and customized wallpaper), customized “treasures” (successfully toys for one’s Miis), customized gadgets to brighten their island, and even customized meals for Miis to eat.
However seems aren’t all the pieces. What actually brings Miis to life are their personalities. Gamers can tweak these personalities throughout Mii creation, however additionally they have baked-in preferences like favourite meals. Miis aren’t afraid to make their preferences recognized, either–when I fed one in all my Miis a meals he hated, a short (and hilarious) cutscene performed, depicting his soul bodily leaving his physique.
Along with the preferences they’re “born” with, Miis may also be given Little Quirks: player-chosen attributes that vary from stressed sleeping to a penchant for public farting. When you begin including Little Quirks, Miis actually begin to come alive, and start to really feel extra just like the Miis they’re meant to be. For instance, after creating Princess Bubblegum, I naturally needed to make her girlfriend, Marceline the Vampire Queen. On account of Tomodachi Life’s implausible customization choices, she definitely seems the half, however it’s the Little Quirks that make her really feel like Marceline. The “floats as an alternative of strolling” quirk permits her to hover within the air similar to the character she’s based mostly on, and the “night time owl” quirk means she prefers to fill her social calendar with after-dark actions, as any true vampire would. Mixed with the playable guitar I gave her throughout her most up-to-date level-up, this Mii does not simply seem like Marceline: She behaves like her.
After all, The Sims 4 permits for loads of personality-tweaking, too, and–at least on paper–it’s way more in-depth than something you may see in Tomodachi Life: Residing the Dream. However in observe, all of my Sims behave roughly the identical, as most features of Sims’ personalities are carried out in a player-facing method through “moodlets.” If I create a Sim who dislikes kids, she’ll get a destructive “moodlet” after interacting with one, however that is about it. She will not glare at close by youngsters or recoil from them. My Sim is perhaps in a nasty temper as a result of I made her work together with a child, however she’s unlikely to really inform a Sim-kid to go kick rocks. The Sims 4 continually tells me how my Sims are feeling, however it hardly ever exhibits me.
What makes Miis stand out is the truth that their personalities are largely displayed externally. Certain, generally they will flag me down, break the fourth wall, and demand that I feed them. But when I create a Mii with the “scaredy cat” Little Quirk, they are not simply going to let me know they’re scared–they’ll make it evident to everybody. In the event that they get startled by one in all their mates, they will soar, yelp, after which dash again to their home, slamming the door behind them and bending all the way down to catch their breath. My Sims can actually die of fright, however many of the info I’ve about their feelings comes from the player-facing “moodlet” icons moderately than precise habits.
Nintendo has additionally managed to implement extraordinarily well-polished autonomous Mii habits in a means EA hasn’t actually managed to with The Sims 4. To be truthful, The Sims 4 is a way more advanced recreation with far more content material than Tomodachi Life, however it’s additionally taken EA over a decade to get the sport working correctly, and builders are simply now getting round to figuring out the kinks in Sim habits–especially autonomous habits. In Tomodachi Life, nevertheless, the transition between player-controlled habits and autonomous habits is seamless. I can drag my Marceline Mii over to Princess Bubblegum, and make them work together, however they will additionally work together with one another with out my enter. I can then interrupt them mid-interaction to provide them meals, change their garments, or tweak their look, and after I’m accomplished, they will go proper again to no matter they had been doing earlier than, whether or not they had been having a chat or training ballet collectively. Any longtime Sims 4 participant is aware of that getting a Sim to really do what you inform them to–let alone in a well timed manner–is like pulling tooth, and solely will get extra sophisticated while you attempt to contain one other Sim. Come to consider it, even with the free will setting turned on, I do not assume I’ve ever seen my Sims go for an informal stroll collectively, or have a lovers’ quarrel–things my Miis do continuously.
To be truthful, The Sims 2 did autonomy and character fairly well–back then, Sims had recollections, autonomous emotional reactions to romantic betrayals, and would usually do one thing extra thrilling than sit round watching TV when left to their very own units. However because the collection has progressed, Sims have turn into much less like simulated people and extra like digital paper dolls. On one hand, I get it–too a lot autonomy can get in the way in which of the story a participant may want to inform with their Sims. However even with Sim autonomy absolutely enabled, it typically appears like my Sims’ personalities are solely working about 50% of the time. The opposite half of the time, they act, transfer, and behave similar to all of my different Sims.
My Miis, then again, proceed to shock me. They get into arguments, take one another on dates, develop crushes, and meet up in giant teams to socialize. They showcase their belongings, have opinions on the meals and outfits I give them, and get dragged into messy love triangles. Sims could have desires and aspirations, however these are principally expressed to the participant through the sport’s UI, not proven through Sims’ habits. Miis even have desires, however the recreation does not simply inform me about these dreams–it permits me to really witness what’s taking place in my Miis’ unconscious thoughts through amusing (and sometimes relatable) little dream-sequence cutscenes.
Miis even have opinions. Mere moments after I created a Mii model of Starlight from The Boys, she laid eyes on the Mii model of Samara from The Ring, and it was love at first sight. Later, Starlight addressed me immediately, and requested for recommendation on share her emotions with Samara. Surprisingly, I used to be given the choice to ask Starlight what she thought she ought to do. She finally settled on ready it out to see if Samara confessed her love first. (Which was most likely wise–rushing right into a relationship with a ghost lady who haunts TV units seems like a recipe for a nasty time.)
Talking of time, Tomodachi Life’s sluggish pacing is one other breath of contemporary air. In The Sims 4, I can pair two Sims up, speedrun a romance, and find yourself with just a little Sim-baby in underneath an hour. Miis, nevertheless, take a bit extra convincing–and a bit extra time–before they’re keen to tie the knot, not to mention take into consideration reproducing. It took me a number of days to take my first Mii couple from relationship to married with kids, which made the little bundle of pleasure’s arrival much more thrilling.
I am not saying Tomodachi Life: Residing the Dream is a greater recreation than The Sims 4. It is a very completely different recreation, and a way more simplified one. However the components that matter–things like look, clothes and decor customization, autonomous interplay, and exterior shows of personality–are surprisingly well-polished. Certain, the sport may stand to have a bit extra content material (I would like to see climate carried out in a future replace, for instance), however the options it does have are enjoyable, fleshed-out, and bug-free. Tomodachi Life: Residing the Dream truly jogs my memory a variety of the very first entry in The Sims franchise. 2000’s The Sims did not want 100+ DLC packs or a year-long roadmap of bug fixes or a ridiculous paid mod scheme to be enjoyable. It launched as a whole product, and bought like hotcakes consequently.
The gaming market has clearly modified within the years since The Sims was first launched, however life-sim customers have not modified that a lot, as evidenced by the truth that Tomodachi Life: Residing the Dream is promoting like hotcakes, too.
There’s a variety of discourse within the life-sim group concerning a legendary “Sims killer”: a hypothetical recreation that may take The Sims 4’s crown and show that EA is not the one firm that may make an important digital dollhouse. First it was Life By You, which ended up being canceled simply days earlier than its early-access launch date. Then it was InZoi, which ended up being visually beautiful however underbaked and stuffed with generative AI. Subsequent up is Paralives, which is ready to launch in early entry later this month after an eleventh-hour delay was introduced earlier than its unique November 2025 launch date.
However after being repeatedly let down by EA’s countless output of overpriced, underwhelming Sims 4 DLC packs–and routinely being disillusioned by canceled or delayed “Simslikes”–I am beginning to understand I do not essentially need a Sims clone. I simply need a life-sim that feels alive. Between the continued enchancment and help for Animal Crossing: New Horizons and the whimsical, charming, bug-free world of Tomodachi Life: Residing the Dream, I am beginning to assume EA may stand to learn a thing or two from Nintendo, and I am not alone. A current tweet from a pissed off Sims 4 participant within the wake of its paid mod scandal sums up my emotions fairly properly.
“Stuffed with bugs and microtransaction slop? Our weekend’s full too, however with one thing else,” the participant wrote in response to an X submit asserting one more Sims 4 collab nobody requested for.
“We’re ditching you for Tomodachi Life: Residing the Dream,” they added, sharing an image of a number of in style premade Sims characters in Mii type. “And we’re taking your guys with us.”
I am not saying that Tomodachi Life is the long-awaited “Sims killer.” I am simply saying I’ve spent extra time enjoying it within the month since its launch than I’ve spent with my Sims all 12 months. I hope EA’s subsequent entries in The Sims franchise–Mission Rene and Mission X–aren’t microtransaction-riddled nightmares. But when they’re, that is okay. I am going to simply be over right here residing the dream with my lovable, endlessly customizable Miis.