Paul RobertsJune 17, 2021Maxi Geek Review, Miitopia, Switch, NIntendoComment

Miitopia - Review

Paul RobertsJune 17, 2021Maxi Geek Review, Miitopia, Switch, NIntendoComment

Seeing the relaxed RPG Miitopia on the Switch is an oddity. How can a game so intrinsically linked with the 3DS use of Miis work on the Switch, where Miis are an afterthought at best? My other thought was why Miitopia over Tomodatchi Life?! Miitopia came out at a point the 3DS was beginning to wind down, which meant unfortunately it went by fairly quietly the first time around. Now a few years into the Switch’s lifespan, Nintendo is giving Miitopia a new lease on life with a definitive edition. Is it a game to definitively buy?

The Dark Lord is going about stealing Mii’s faces and putting them onto other creatures. To save the town’s faces you’ll have to go get them back. From there you gain a party, meet the King, and rescue a lot of faces. One of the main draws to Miitopia is that the characters in the game are all made by you, and other players. If you played Miitopia on the 3DS then you will be very familiar with the Switch version.

It does look much better, the extra customisation options for the Mii’s is a real step up also. You can achieve amazing Miis with the new wig and make up options, it puts all of the other Miis to shame. The fact Nintendo haven’t put these customisation options throughout their Switch games with Miis is a major missed opportunity. When I originally played Miitopia on the 3DS, I had easy access to a wide range of Miis to add to my ever-expanding case in Miitopia. The Switch however does not have the same level of access to your friend's Mii’s. Instead, you have access to some of the more popular Mii’s from the 3DS, and through access codes people can share their creations. It’s not super ideal, but unless you want to create every Mii from scratch it will have to do. For this time around, without wanting to spend way too much time in the Mii creator, I opted to use characters from the popular section of the player-made Mii’s. My Mii was joined by Bob Ross, Thor and Finn the Human.

One of the other new additions is a horse companion you befriend early into the game. The horse acts as a 5th member of the party. They can help the other party members, although this doesn’t happen every turn.

A benefit from moving from the 3DS to the Switch is being able to see how nice it all looks when on more powerful hardware. Now don’t get me wrong, Miitopia was never visually spectacular. But now it looks nice enough to appreciate, especially being able to see detailed textures on some of the sillier outfits.

You don’t directly control your Mii as you travel forward in an area, being stopped by fights, random events or forks in the road. Eventually, you’ll get to an inn to heal and build up friendships. What’s new to this version is the ability to take two Mii’s on outings, as long as you have the tickets for them. These outings are extra relationship building exercises, speeding up the benefits gained from levelling up the relationships. Building these links between characters is very beneficial by randomly allowing a friend to step in. Although be aware, there can be falling outs if someone is feeling left out or gets jealous.

The fights are turn based, and you only have direct control over your Mii which makes the actual questing feel fairly hands off. Keeping control down to your main character likely saves a lot of time for a game where there'd be no fun in micromanaging.

Because of how easygoing the actual game part of Miitopia is, it's a surprise that your adventure will go on for a long time. If you really want to see everything, you could easily be spending over 40 hours here. This is great if you want to get the most out of your game. But you may find yourself questioning if you really want to be spending so much time when Miitopia is such a relaxed take on an RPG.

Miitopia is a strange game. It has elements from the old 3DS Spotpass game Find Mii, and incorporates elements of Tomodachi Life. It feels like a game made to be played in 10-15 minute bursts. Yet I still found myself going “just until I get to the next inn”. It’s a casual RPG you play when you just want to play something that makes you smile, and Miitopia will make you smile. Whether it’s the silly combinations of faces placed onto enemies, or just the wacky conversations and outfits you can purchase along the way. Miitopia is a goofy game and it never tries to be anything different. It is silly and goofy in the same earnest way Tomodachi Life was before it. Even when Miitopia drags on, it’s difficult to not have a smile break out.

If we are never going to see another Tomodachi Life or Miitopia, or if this style of game is going to continue evolving, I hope Nintendo keeps goofiness alive.