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The best way to describe life simulator Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is like a bizarre cross between The Sims and reality TV show Big Brother, but even that would be doing its special brand of weirdness a disservice. There’s simply nothing else quite like this strange Nintendo Switch exclusive, which sees you creating bombastic Mii characters, dropping them into a virtual island, and sitting back to watch as increasingly bizarre events occur.

Review info

Platform reviewed: Nintendo Switch 2
Available on: Nintendo Switch
Release date: April 16, 2026

Thanks to its frankly staggering degree of character customization, which lets you create a digital representation of everyone from your real-life friend group to celebrities and even your favorite gaming characters, the whole thing seems tailor-made for generating viral social media clips, and it’s clear that the Japanese gaming giant is already on to a winner in this regard. With just a demo available to the public, my social media feeds have been filled with hilarious encounters — all elevated by the series' trademark charmingly robotic text-to-speech voices.

If you enjoyed the demo or seeing the countless popular posts, then you’ll love the full game. It’s more of the same with everything dialled up to eleven — letting you unleash up to 70 characters rather than the demo’s three, and with hundreds more items and objects to discover. There are some misses, mostly for those expecting a transformative upgrade on Nintendo Switch 2, but Living the Dream is otherwise a raucous time.

Mini Mii

(Image credit: Nintendo)

The most important thing to know is that this is quite a hands-off game and clearly meant to be toyed with in short bursts over an extended period rather than ravenously consumed in just one sitting.

The experience opens by guiding you through the creation of your first few characters and outlining the basics of the in-depth character creator. Crafting Miis is a clear highlight, as Living the Dream offers the most expansive system for making them yet.

The possibilities are practically endless, with tens of face types, hair styles, eyebrows, eyes, noses, mouths, and so on. Beyond the impressive range of options, seemingly minor additions such as the option to select a separate front and back hairstyle and the addition of ears (a first for Miis) make it easier than ever to capture your desired look.

I set about creating as many members of the TechRadar team as possible, including everyone from my boss, Rob Dwiar, and Senior Entertainment Writer Lucy Buglass to our iconic Editor at Large, Lance Ulanoff, and never struggled to nail the look.

More elaborate Miis are possible through the face paint system. It turns your Mii’s face into a blank canvas, which you can draw on freely to add everything from little details, such as make-up and scars, to entire new faces based on your wildest dreams.

(Image credit: Nintendo)

The only limit here is your artistic skill, and, luckily, if you’re completely hopeless at drawing like me, you’ll be able to take advantage of some pre-set stamps of common shapes, faces, and a few food items.

Although it is an option, you don’t ever have to start from scratch either. You can clone an existing Mii and then tweak it to your liking (a tool I used to create a tiny Baby Lance) or follow a series of question-style prompts that run through the most important visual traits. The latter is particularly fun and surprisingly effective — giving you a great, near-perfect base that you can then fine-tune to perfection.

No matter your chosen method of creation, the final stage is always inputting some biographical information, including a little personality quiz that assigns your character one of a handful of distinct types to inform their behaviour. This doesn’t seem too impactful in the grand scheme of things, though I did occasionally note some differences in how my easy-going, optimistic Miis and confident leaders, for example, would react in different situations.

If you can dream it

(Image credit: Nintendo)

From there, you’re let loose on your island, a customizable tropical paradise that serves as the home of your Miis. Viewed from a birds-eye perspective, they all wander around chatting with each other throughout the day, occasionally retreating into their little houses for the odd rest.

Best bit

(Image credit: Nintendo)

If creating your own Miis wasn’t enough, the island itself can be customized extensively with a vast selection of props and almost complete freedom over its layout. I particularly enjoy plopping down objects like vending machines and swings, which have their own special animations and possible interactions to discover.

Like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the game syncs with real-world time, so you’re likely to see something different depending on when you choose to log on. Miis will also remark on how much time you’ve spent in the game recently; leave for more than a few days, and they’ll miss you dearly.

Sometimes Miis will require some direct interaction, waving up at the sky to offer the chance to play some basic minigames like a quiz that has you guessing obscured objects via their shadows. They’re a bit repetitive, but thankfully totally optional and do have some decent rewards in the random items available if you win. You’ll also see plenty of little thought bubbles, which you can click with the on-screen cursor to chat to the Mii or trigger an animated scene.

They’ll sometimes ask for advice or guidance as well, which gives you another route to customizing their behavior.

Completing tasks for your Miis often grants some cash and glowing yellow liquid happiness, raising their individual happiness level. Increasing happiness unlocks new traits and the option to give them objects to play with, distinct walking animations, new catchphrases to spout, and more. On top of this, Miis have a hunger level to manage. They won’t die if you starve them or anything — but dispensing good food regularly is a sure-fire way to farm a lot of happiness easily.

(Image credit: Nintendo)

You’ll want to keep on top of this, as it all pools into an overall island happiness level. This is the main metric of your progress through the game, and as you raise happiness, a handful of unique buildings are unlocked. This includes a clothes shop to outfit your Miis and a workshop that lets you create your very own objects using an extensive digital canvas.

It does get to a point where it feels like you’ve seen most of what the game has to offer, but it still finds odd new ways to surprise you. There are loads of possible Mii interactions: they can form relationships, make lifelong enemies, move in together, and much more. Events can even happen off-screen, too, leading to some rather amusing instances where I logged in to find Miis had radically altered their own appearances with new hairstyles, or started a feud with a former friend.

The lack of Nintendo Switch 2-specific features is undeniably a shame, though. For some reason, Nintendo has opted to release Living the Dream solely for the original Switch, rather than also offer a dedicated Switch 2 version. It is playable through backwards and benefits from slightly shinier visuals, but the lack of support for features like Joy-Con 2 mouse control is noticeable and seems like a huge missed opportunity given the number of mechanics that involve drawing.

Even those on the original Switch will notice that touch-screen support is also quite limited. You can tap icons in the character creator or drag your fingers across the screen to stroke a Miis head, but that’s basically it — a shame when pressing different options on on-screen pop-ups could easily be accomplished with a quick tap in handheld mode.

Should I play Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream?Play it if...

You’re a creative type
If you love customizing characters and the world they live in, then you’ll absolutely devour the practically limitless possibilities offered to you in Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream.

You love the viral clips
If you’ve been seeing the many online clips of this game or its demo and want to make your own, then it certainly won’t disappoint. This is nothing short of the ultimate funny clip generator.

Don't play it if...

You want hands-on life simulation
Tomodachi Life is all about watching your characters live their lives rather than directly controlling them. If you want more hands-on life simulation, try looking at The Sims and its spinoffs instead.

Accessibility features

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream does not have a dedicated accessibility menu and, like other Nintendo-developed games, has very few settings.

Your only real options are to invert the X-axis of the camera and tweak the levels of individual sounds. Dialogue in the game is conveyed predominantly through text, though you cannot customize its appearance in any way.

How I reviewed Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream

I played more than 15 hours of Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream on Nintendo Switch 2, predominantly in handheld mode using the Joy-Con 2 controllers and relying on the system’s integrated speakers for sound.

During my time with the game, I created countless Mii characters and experienced as much of it as possible, comparing it with the previous entry, Tomodachi Life on Nintendo 3DS, and other life simulation games like The Sims 4.

First reviewed March 2026

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream stands out thanks to its wacky humor and incredible level of customization.

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ACER PREDATOR ORION 7000: TWO-MINUTE REVIEW

This is a larger-than-life PC with a price tag to match. Its 67-liter chassis, RGB fans, and bicep-testing weight give it a premium look and feel that is sure to turn heads. This also gives it a huge amount of room to circulate cold air and, thanks to the liquid-cooled radiator, the unlocked Intel CPU has enough headroom for extra performance without jet-like fan noise.

In our testing, the combination of the Nvidia RTX 5080 and Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF worked in tandem to handle everything we could throw at it: Cyberpunk 2077 looked completely movie-like with no framerate bottlenecks, while Crimson Desert’s megabudget effects were astonishing.

Likewise, it handled 4K video editing in Premiere Pro and complicated motion tracking in After Effects without slowdowns. If you’re looking for something for both work and play (depending on your job), this could well be a perfect fit.

A nice touch is the hot-swap NVME bay on top of the machine, which means you can expand the storage without opening up the case. But when you do feel the need to upgrade, there are a couple of unoccupied RAM slots ready and waiting.

(Image credit: Future)

It’s costly, but that is an inevitability in hardware at the moment. However, it’s one of the best ways to get an eye-boggling 4K gaming experience out of the box.

ACER PREDATOR ORION 7000: PRICE AND AVAILABILITY

• How much does it cost? Starts at £3,299 (UK), $4,999 (US), $6,999 (AU)
• When is it available? Available now
• Where can you get it? Available in the UK, US, and Australia

Our review build retails at £3,299, but it stretches all the way up to a £5,299 version with an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, 32GB RTX 5090, 64 GB DDR5 RAM, and a 4TB SSD — which is starting to get into 8K gaming territory.

As well as the components, you’re also paying for a decent chassis. Acer has made the Orion 7000 feel cohesive while inviting upgrades — and although you might not need them for a little while, those extra RAM and SSD slots will come in handy when prices finally tumble in the year 2176.

The closest comparison that we’ve reviewed recently is the Corsair One i500, which packs similar liquid-cooled componentry and gaming performance into a wood-finished case. The Orion 7000 is a more conventional design, screaming for attention, while Corsair’s One i500 issues a more sophisticated invitation.

While there are lots of models available in the UK via Acer itself and Currys, in other countries the choice is more limited. In the USA, you can only get the Predator Orion 7000 direct from Acer for $4,999 – but this build packs an Ultra 9 285K processor and 64GB DDR5 RAM. In Australia, the RAM is pared back to 32GB and the price pumped up to $6,999 AU.

• Value: 4 / 5

ACER PREDATOR ORION 7000: SPECS

Category

Specification

Processor

Up to Intel Core Ultra 9 285K

Graphics

Up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 (32GB GDDR7)

RAM

Up to 128GB DDR5 (6000MHz)

Storage

Up to 6TB PCIe M.2 SSD / Up to 4TB HDD

Connectivity

Intel Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3, 2.5G Ethernet

Ports (Front)

3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C, 2x 3.5mm audio jacks

Ports (Rear)

1x Thunderbolt 4, 3x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 2x USB 2.0, 3x 3.5mm audio jacks, 1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort

Weight

18.16kg (approx. 40 lbs)

Dimensions

485 x 219 x 504.8mm

ACER PREDATOR ORION 7000: DESIGN

• A huge, heavy PC
• Tweakable aesthetics via software
• Handy NVME drive bay

You know you’re in for a good time when a PC is so heavy that it arrives in a wheeled crate. The reason for this back-breaking 40lb (18kg) weight? First up, the case, which has a solid build quality and thick, magnetically shielded glass panels. There’s none of the flex or lightness of cheaper chassis: it feels like you could stand and possibly even jump on it (not that we tried).

Within lurks a water-cooled CPU heatsink, a triple-fanned RTX card, and a 1200W PSU, none of which are known for their lightness. At 19.1 x 8.6 x 19.9 in (485 x 219 x 504.8 mm), it’s absolutely humongous, too, with the water-cooled radiator and its RGB fans adding a little extra to the height over the otherwise similar Orion 5000 Rob reviewed.

(Image credit: Future)

The Predator Orion 7000 matches its monolithic form factor with eye-catching looks. The glowing Predator “shield” on the front panel makes it look like Sauron’s shoebox, but from the side its aggregation of liquid-cooling pipes and LED fans give it a hydroponic feeling.

(Image credit: Future)

The colors of the fans (adjustable via Predatorsense software) can make the unit feel pumped-up and aggressive or calm and quiet, which speaks to a thoughtful design.

FutureFutureFuture

A neat little touch here is a hot-swap USB-C M.2 NVMe bay that pulls out of the top of the machine. Add an SSD, and you’ve got extra, portable storage for those 200GB-plus game installs – and computing has gone back to the cartridge days of the 90s. The top panel also includes headphone, mic, and USB ports for quick and easy access.

• Design: 4 / 5

ACER PREDATOR ORION 7000: PERFORMANCE

• Massive performance uplift
• Handles 4K gaming without problems
• Powers through draining creative tasks

Acer Predator Orion 7000 review: Benchmarks

Here's how the Acer Predator Orion 7000 performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
Geekbench 6 (Multi Core): 22612; (Single Core): 2,233
Cinebench R23 (Multi Core): 35,011; (Single Core): 2,185
3DMark Fire Strike: 50,020; Night Raid: 93,883; Port Royal: 21,404; Time Spy: 28,326
Total War: Warhammer III: Mirrors of Madness (1080p, Ultra): 224fps
Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p, Ultra): 161fps
Dirt 5 (1080p, High): 232fps

While Rob described the Orion 5000 as “not outrageous,” the Orion 7000 pushes things very much into outrageous territory. The componentry shift only seems minor: from an Nvidia RTX 5070 to an RTX 5080, and from an Intel Core Ultra 7 265F to a 265KF. That’s a difference of 10 and an extra K.

But in the world of gaming, this is a huge leap in performance. 3D Mark’s Port Royal benchmark, which tests ray tracing abilities, delivered a 53% leap in performance. Cyberpunk 2077, in ultra settings (albeit at 1080p) went from 95fps on the 5000 to 161fps on the 7000. It’s proof that Nvidia really has put its money where its mouth is with the RTX 5080 — and the difference between gaming at 1440p and 4K.

(Image credit: Future)

That “K” in the CPU moniker stands for “unlocKed,” which means that Acer is able to push the Core Ultra 7’s further than stock settings, enabling higher clock rates and power draw. Add in the water-cooled heatsink, and you can eke out a lot more performance from Intel’s Arrow Lake chip: Geekbench 6’s score for intensive computing tasks increased by 50% over the Orion 5000, while Cinebench R23 multi-core scores saw a massive 60.5% uplift.

(Image credit: Future)

In reality, this means that the Orion 7000 can handle just about anything you can throw at it in 4K. Cyberpunk 2077 and Crimson Desert both looked utterly breathtaking in their intricate ray-traced details: the wind rushing through the trees, the atmospheric hazing on the horizon, the major globules of spilt blood. It also wasn’t phased at all by huge 4K Premiere Pro video editing tasks and motion tracking in After Effects, and that SSD drive is equally handy for large files.

The most pro of gamers may be put off by Acer’s PredatorSense software and system noise, but if you want your gaming big-scale, cinematic, and console-killing, this is the PC to go for.

• Performance: 5 / 5

SHOULD I BUY THE ACER PREDATOR ORION 7000?

Notes

Rating

Value

Even the base model here is expensive, but this is a future-proof machine that will keep up with the next few years of gaming.

4/5

Design

A monolithic and domineering design that can’t be tucked away, but quiet operation and the neat NVME drive make it more palatable.

4.5/5

Performance

The tuned CPU works in lockstep with the heavyweight GPU to deliver remarkable 4K gaming performance, and it breezes through pro creative tasks

5/5

Total

An utterly unsubtle PC that matches performance prowess with eye-catching neon-lit design. If you want high-end gaming that will make console owners drool, this is the PC for you – but it costs a lot.

4.5/5

Buy the Acer Predator Orion 7000 if...

You want solid 4K gaming with all the bells and whistles
We’re used to having to dial some features back for ultra-HD gaming at fluent framerates – but that’s not the case here. The Orion 7000 is ready to take on today’s (and tomorrow’s games) from the moment you plug it in.View Deal

You need a future-proof PC
While the base specs here are enough to power up your gaming sessions from the word go, there is room for a couple more RAM sticks (if you can afford them!) plus an easy-access NVME bay for an instantaneous storage boost.View Deal

You want people to know you just spent a lot on your PC
This is a PC that looks expensive – for better or worse. The slab-like design and LED fans make this a computer that can’t be ignored, but it serves its purpose, keeping everything icy cool and deadly quiet.View Deal

Don’t buy the Acer Predator Orion 7000 if...

You want something small and light
There’s no getting around the fact that this is a big, heavy PC that will crush your toes as easily as it crushes the competition. This is best suited to a dedicated gaming room or teen bedroom, not one for the living room.View Deal

You’re on a strict budget
This is a huge investment, and one that’s probably been inflated due to ongoing global componentry madness. View Deal

ALSO CONSIDER

Category

Acer Predator Orion 7000 (PO7-660)

Acer Predator Orion 5000 (PO5-655)

Corsair One i500

Processor

Up to Intel Core Ultra 9 285K

Up to Intel Core i7-14700F

Intel Core i9-14900K

Graphics

Up to NVIDIA RTX 5090 (32GB)

Up to NVIDIA RTX 4080 Super

Up to NVIDIA RTX 4090

RAM

Up to 128GB DDR5 (6000MHz)

Up to 64GB DDR5 (4800MHz)

Up to 192GB DDR5 (6000MHz)

Storage

Up to 6TB SSD / 4TB HDD

Up to 1TB SSD / 2TB HDD

Up to 2TB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe

Connectivity

Wi-Fi 7, BT 5.3, 2.5G Ethernet

Wi-Fi 6E, BT 5.0, 2.5G Ethernet

Wi-Fi 6E, BT 5.3, 2.5G Ethernet

Cooling

Predator CycloneX 360 (AIO)

Predator FrostBlade 2.0 (Air)

Dual-path Liquid Cooling (AIO)

Ports (Front)

1x USB-C, 3x USB-A, 2x Audio

1x USB-C, 3x USB-A, 2x Audio

1x USB-C, 2x USB-A, 1x Audio

Dimensions

485 x 219 x 504.8mm

485 x 219 x 504.8mm

391 x 185 x 300mm

Weight

18.16kg

17.23kg

10.28kg

Acer Orion Predator 5000

The 7000’s little brother is still a dependable and powerful PC that stands its ground in 1440p gaming. If you want the familial looks, don’t mind missing out on the liquid cooling, and want to save money, this is the one to go for.

Read our full Acer Orion Predator 5000 reviewView Deal

Corsair One i500

Corsair heads in the exact opposite direction to Acer, packing similar components and cooling into a calmer, classier case. This is one that you could stick in your living room.

Read our full Corsair One i500 reviewView Deal

HOW I TESTED THE ACER PREDATOR ORION 7000

I spent one full week testing the Orion 7000 as my primary workstation and gaming rig. I tested use cases ranging from 4K video editing in Premiere Pro to intensive 4K ray-traced gaming in Cyberpunk 2077. I used suites such as 3DMark and Cinebench R23 to verify clock speeds and see how it shaped up against other PCs.

First reviewed March 2026

The Acer Predator Orion 7000 is a high-end machine with eye-catching design and future-proof components – but it’s not cheap

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