The Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream demo went live for Switch owners on Wednesday, and though it only offers a sliver of the surreal life sim, clips and screenshots of the game are already blowing up on social media. Given Nintendo’s reputation as a strict, family-friendly brand, you’d think that the Japanese publisher would enforce all sorts of rules for what people can and cannot put into the game. Instead, fans have been delighted to discover that Tomodachi Life kinda lets them do whatever they want — and the game is all the better for it.
For those who didn’t play the 2014 3DS game that started it all, the Tomodachi Life series is best described as The Sims meets Animal Crossing, but with Mii avatars. In it, you oversee the day-to-day happenings of an island full of residents. These characters can be created by the player, or they can be imported from other user designs — if not the player’s own friend list. Though the brand hasn’t had much of a presence in the decade since the 3DS game, the original sold millions and was quietly one of the most successful games on the portable platform.
