Toca Life World: Build a Story feels like a digital dollhouse. It doesn’t push you toward any one path—you get to make your own. Whether you want to play house, run a pretend business, or just mix characters into weird combos, it’s all fair game.

The characters are small, colorful, and expressive. Everything’s touch-based, so you’re mostly dragging people and items around. It’s simple, but the fun comes from how you put things together. There are hundreds of tiny items you can move or interact with, which keeps things interesting.

You start with a free city block that has a few unlocked spots, like a home and a hair studio. These locations are packed with stuff to explore. But if you want a school, hospital, or vacation spot, you’ll have to buy those. It's not too pushy, but kids might be tempted to ask for the extras.

A cool thing is that all the characters you unlock in one area can be used in another. That means you can take someone from the beach and drop them into the science lab or bring a dog from your house into a pizza shop. It’s like crossing toys from different sets.

There’s no voice acting or long instructions. You just poke around until something clicks. The game rewards curiosity, and once you start building scenes, it’s hard to stop.

Step 1: Launch the app. You’ll land in your starter city with a few buildings already available. It’s all point-and-tap from here.

Step 2: Select a building to explore. Some are homes, others are stores or schools. Each one has different props and people inside.

Step 3: Tap on a character to pick them up. You can drag them anywhere—between rooms or even between buildings.

Step 4: Tap on furniture and objects to see if they can be moved or used. Some items open or activate when touched. You might find surprises just by messing around.

Step 5: Change your characters by tapping the closet icon. You can swap clothes, hats, and even accessories. Some outfits match certain jobs or stories you want to tell.

Step 6: Combine characters to make scenes. A firefighter, a dog, and a grocery store? That could be a rescue mission. Or just something silly. There are no wrong combos.

Step 7: Tap the world icon to go back to the main map. From there, check out what else is open or browse add-ons in the shop. Keep an eye on the free gifts—they sometimes give you new characters or items.

Step 8: Share your screen with friends or take screenshots if you’re proud of what you built. There’s no leaderboard, just what you come up with.