Paralives is the very definition of early access, but it’s already a promising Sims rival

Paralives Studio has been busy tempering expectations for its life sim in the run up to its early access launch on May 25—the game’s been cooking for close to seven years now, but that certainly does not mean it’s done. And after spending 10 hours with the game, I most definitely understand why the developer is trying to remind people what “early access” actually means.

That’s because Paralives is not one of those games parading around in Steam’s early access tag with what is essentially a fully functional experience. It’s buggy, it’s far from feature-complete, its UI is messy and oftentimes unintuitive. There’s little feedback on why things go wrong—interactions regularly fail to go through with no reasonable explanation, and errors are vague.

But that doesn’t mean Paralives isn’t one of the most promising, exciting life sims to come onto the scene. It’s got the bones of something really incredible, with all the warmth that comes from being made by fans of the genre. People who’ve poured thousands of hours across their childhood and teenage years into the lives of virtual people and their homes. People like me. Except, y’know, they actually know how to make videogames.

For every annoying little snag that has me despairing, a gem lurks beneath the surface to pull me in and get me right on board with Paralives’ ongoing journey.

Living for it

If you’re a build/buy enjoyer like myself, you are going to have a whale of a time decorating homes in this game. Resizing objects! Snap-free clutter decoration! Colour wheels and texture options! Different door handles on kitchen counters!! While Paralives isn’t resplendent with decor right now, that has not stopped me from going buck-wild creating the cosy home of my dreams.

The Paramaker is also full of lovely features that people more creative than me will surely love. Layering makeup and clothing items along with height sliders are two things that really stuck out to me, along with a bunch of neat inclusive stuff like various disability aides (something that took The Sims 4 close to a decade to add) and an actual toggle for vegetarianism instead of relegating it to a trait.

Unsurprisingly, Paralives’ biggest weakness lies within its live mode. It’s where most of the bugs are to be found, and where performance tanks the most as I dash around the open world from lot to lot. Menus sometimes stay permanently stuck, forcing me to restart the game. One time a Parafolk was perpetually caught in a loop of levelling up his personality. I ended up with a whopping 62 personality points, which I think is more than he was supposed to ever have.

Autonomy is pretty bare-bones right now, which means Parafolks require extra babying compared to other life sims, which took me a bit of getting used to. But I love how interactions between Paras work—letting a meter build up and then giving a handful of dialogue options, which stops me spamming the same thing over and over again.

I also love the townie requests—a feature that feels drawn from cosy games like Stardew Valley. They’re often small, like visiting a gym or cleaning up trash on the beach. But they’re a lovely reason for my Parafolk to get out of the house for a bit and actually explore the town rather than staying cooped up all day.

I’ll have more to say closer to the game’s launch once I’ve had a weekend to sink some more time into it, but right now I am more than willing to sort the wheat from the chaff because the game has so much potential, and an awful lotta heart.

Ultimately, I think whether you have a good time in Paralives depends on where your priorities lie in a life sim. If you play like me—that is, a chronic interior decorator, an occasional Paramaker enjoyer and dabbler in live mode—there’s a good chance you’ll be able to see the same special spark in this game as I can.

By the team’s own admission, there’s not hundreds of hours of game to completely lose yourself in just yet. But unlike my time with Inzoi, I can see Paralives becoming a game I return to time and time again as it continues to sand down the rough edges.