Paralives, the newest rival to king-of-the-life-simulation-genre The Sims, is now available to play.
After about seven years of development, the game has finally entered Early Access, which means players finally can dive into a new cozy life sim–free from all of the recent baggage from EA that’s turned off plenty of creators and fans from playing anymore (as well as the disappointing reveal that the next Sims title will be a mobile game).
Paralives found viral success and a dedicated fanbase well before release through its communicative developers and their vocal dedication to accessibility and customization.
What is Paralives?
Like The Sims, Paralives is a straightforward life simulation game. As shown in the recent eight minute trailer for the game, players will have access to every classic part of a life sim title, from creating their character from the ground up with personality and styling to building and customizing a home for them to live in.
Get a job, head into town, and make friends (or even something more) with the townsfolk. Paras, as the characters in-game are called, can learn hobbies, grind for their career, or build a family all while living in an idyllic small town.
How much does Paralives cost?
Currently, the price of Paralives is set at $39.99 USD, though the developers have stated in their FAQ that the price will go up after the game leaves Early Access.
What makes this price more palatable for an Early Access indie title is the promise that there will only ever be free expansions instead of paid DLC, which EA’s The Sims is infamous for (the current cost for all expansions for The Sims 4 is almost $1,500 USD). Since that’s about two years away (according to the Steam Page), potential buyers don’t need to feel pressured to invest right away.
Why is Paralives in Early Access?
Development for Paralives began in 2019, promising players a cozier version of life sim gameplay, with features that Sims fans have been begging for for years (like simply layering clothes and makeup and having more customizable heights for each character). What’s made the game stand out so much was the developer’s promises that features that are traditionally locked behind paid DLC in The Sims will be added to the game in free updates.
With how involved and multifaceted the gameplay of Paralives is, it makes a lot of sense that the game is in Early Access despite its lengthy development period. While it is certainly already a rival to The Sims, the game isn’t fully ironed out and plenty of features that life sims fans are used to having are planned for later down the road.
Some of these planned features include family trees, pets (including dogs, cats, and horses), pools, gardening, cars, weather, and social events like parties and weddings. Given the dedication of the development team over the years – and the large backing on sites like Patreon – Paralives feels like a game that’s worth investing in without fear that progress will stagnate.
Paralives clarified why they’re utilizing Early Access on their Steam page, as they explained, “releasing in Early Access will allow people to play with the features and systems we have developed, and provide us with crucial feedback to help refine and improve what we have into a truly great and unique experience. Because we’re a small team and the breadth and depth of things you can do in a game like Paralives is staggering, this feels like the best option for us.”
