After seven years of development, Paralives is out in early access

A new challenger enters the life sim arena

The day has come. After first being announced all the way back in 2019 by then solo dev Alex Massé (a small studio has been formed since then), Paralives is now out in early access. Being an early access release, that means you shouldn't expect something as refined as its biggest source of inspiration, and now competitor, The Sims, but it does seem like there's plenty to get started with.

For starters, there's of course the character building, which already looks quite involved. Many a Sims lover will have already clocked the micro adjustments you can make to the game's Paras, a mighty thorn in EA's life sim. There's lots of house building and decorating to be done too, and there's one big world for your Paras to explore and find friends, lovers or enemies in. They can get jobs, have kids, the usual things one does in life.

There are a few things you shouldn't expect. Right now, there's no weather or seasons in the game, and the world might seem particularly lacking in the animal department. Don't worry too much though, as Paralive Studios confirmed in a roadmap that both of these things will be coming within the first two years of early access. Somewhere along the line you can also expect vehicles, family trees, a calendar system, the ability to edit and create towns, and even some story bits for the NPCs. All of which will be free! That's nice.

For the past few years Massé has been running a Patreon to help fund the game, and in a new post he and the rest of the team released a brief statement regarding the game's launch: "Thank you for believing in us all these years and as we release Paralives, we’re incredibly happy to count on your support and proud of what we have created! Enjoy this first version of Paralives! We’ll be reading your feedback closely and can’t wait to see what you will create!" As a note, the Patreon will be shutting down all of its subscriptions, but every post that was previously locked to paying members will be available to browse for free.

You can pick up Paralives at a discounted launch price on Steam now.