The game received mixed reviews; it was praised for its gameplay and overall charm, but criticized for its simplistic minigames and lack of general user control.

Tomodachi Life begins with the player naming their island and creating their "lookalike", which is intended to represent their personal Mii.

The Miis are given unique personalities based on the player's choices for their stats, such as walking speed, speech, and quirkiness.

Over time, the player unlocks more locations, clothes, food, and things for the Miis to interact with, such as items to give them and special interiors for their apartment.

[2][unreliable source] The player is rewarded with in-game currency by interacting with the islanders, resolving their problems, and giving gifts.

If two islanders of the opposite gender and similar age interact, one can confess their love to the other, which, when successful, sets them as their "Sweetheart", or "Special Someone" in the European version.

[17] In May 2014, a playable demo of the game was distributed to Platinum members of Club Nintendo in North America, the data of which could be transferred to the final version to unlock a bonus in-game item.

[20] Bill Trinen, Senior Director of Product Marketing for Nintendo described the idea of Tomodachi Life's interaction system in an interview with Polygon by using the following scenario: "What if everybody you say [sic] in those funny videos on YouTube were actually people that you knew, and those crazy things that were happening were happening to people that you knew?"

According to Ryutaro Takahashi, director of the project, "the dialogue of the characters for example is not just simple translation from Japanese; we have reviewed it so that it feels more natural."

[23][better source needed] On the American Tomodachi Life website, certain Miis of famous celebrities were shown that could be added into the game with the QR codes attached to them, such as Christina Aguilera and Shaquille O'Neal, each including their own custom clothing.

[43] GamesRadar gave the game 4 out of 5 stars, praising its weird humor and relaxing gameplay, whilst criticizing the minigames for being too simple.

"[36] Similarly, Martin Robinson with Eurogamer noted "Tomodachi Life is a simple, throwaway toy, then—one with plenty of cute tricks, but not quite enough of them to stop you from tossing it aside after a handful of hours.

"[30] The game introduced unique mechanics that were noted for its charm and humor, such as a "dream" state that players could enter when an islander was asleep.

In May 2013, a rumor emerged that a bug in the original Japanese version of the game that enabled such relationships was patched by Nintendo.

The company later apologized and stated that if they were to create a third game in the series they would "strive to design a gameplay experience from the ground up that is more inclusive, and better represents all players.