Paralives releases on Monday, May 25th, in early access, and life simulation fans are eagerly waiting for the moment they can add it to their Steam library. It’s been a highly anticipated title since its announcement in 2019. Every press release about the Paralives project has felt monumental. Seeing the paras for the first time felt like a national event. I’m just as excited to add this game to my own library. I am concerned about the internet dubbing it the ‘Sims Killer’ and the pressure behind that title. Sims fans are the core demographic for Paralives and the ones standing at the front of the line to purchase it. They’re also harsh critics.
A new gameplay trailer for Paralives was released, showcasing the game’s intro, which I thought was cute and already gives the game personality. Parafolk aren’t just dropped into the world; they start life on a train. It feels like a real fresh start as a player’s Parafolk embarks on a new life. The developers heard the woes of the Sims community and listened, displaying features in the trailer that Simmers have had to mod in themselves over the years. There’s a height slider, a color picker, and the base game already has layering. That’s just in design a Parafolk. After the Parafolk is created, game options are presented to the player before they disembark the train. A player can customize lifespan, aging, right down to the chances of a Parafolk having triplets. That’ll be handy if challenges take off. Sims fans have already joked about rags to riches; it’s a favorite. The game will have a toddler life stage for Parafolk on launch, as well as babies that are more than objects. If you’re more of a fan of building, I have good news: it looks good. I personally don’t build much in the Sims, but there’s a lot of excitement around curved walls, and I was impressed by the furniture readjusting based on size. I think Paralives is starting strong right out of the gate, even if I’m not a huge fan of the art style personally. I’m slowly coming around to it.
Another big seller for Sims fans is Paralives has stated it will not have traditional DLC and each update will be free. The creators have stated that the price of the game will increase once the game leaves early access. Everyone was holding their breath, and it was revealed that modding will be supported through the Steam community page. This makes mods safer instead of randomly downloading mods from websites when you can’t find the original link. I find most of my mods from Pinterest. I wonder what the creator’s stance is on mods being behind a paywall on Patreon before being public. It’s how some popular Sim mod creators operate. As of now, Paralives does not have plans to support script mods, and as the game grows, I’m wondering if that might hurt the player ecosystem. Sims players specifically enjoy adding mods for little things, and the game understandably can’t hit every check box for every player.
I think Paralives is going to be fun and will stand on its own as a strong life simulator. I hope the creators I enjoy can tell the stories they enjoy through Paralives. I’m also hoping Sims players cut the game some slack, as I’ve seen some bugs in playthroughs from people who received early review copies of Paralives. There are some bugs with interactions between tall and short Parafolk. The bed sheet flew around before settling on top of a Parafolk in the official gameplay trailer. I think it’s important to stress Paralives is in early access when talking about it. It’s not going to be perfect, but it needs a chance to grow. It can’t just be compared to the Sims. I hope players criticize it based on its own strengths and flaws. A big complaint for a lot of Simmers with these “Sim killer’ games is that they’re lacking personality. I think that’s because players are attached to their Sims and the stories they’ve created. Not to mention some simmers’ mod folders could be family heirlooms at this point. It’s hard to completely abandon the stories we’ve created to create something new. It’s even harder to start building a new mods folder.
If Paralives doesn’t grab you right away as a Sim’s fan, I hope you give it time. Making games is hard, and it’s not even in its final form. The Sim’s has had years to develop with a community behind it, helping. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. You can always play both, and I think both are good.
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