Among all the life simulation games currently in development, Paralives is one of the more promising ones from Alex Massé and other developers who currently call themselves the Paralives team. The indie life sim game dropped a gameplay overview video on YouTube today, showcasing the day-to-day activities of a Para (Paralives’ version of a Sim). Along with it, came the announcement that Paralives will be launching in early access on Steam in 2025.
On top of this, another announcement from the Paralives team promises a welcome change to this genre– the game will be a one-time purchase with no post-launch DLCs locked behind a paywall. Instead, the game will have free content updates throughout both its early access and post-full release window.
The Patreon post from the Paralives team states, “When Paralives comes out in Early Access, we will be making frequent updates to release new features and content for free. Then, after the Early Access phase and the launch of the 1.0 version of the game, we will keep making big updates and they will always remain free.”
This might become one of the key selling points of this indie life sim, given the absolute paid DLC-ridden state of The Sims 4. Life by You, which is another upcoming life simulation game in 2024, might have the same pitfall as EA’s genre leader, given it’s being published by Paradox Interactive whose DLC practices are infamous at this point.
Paralives, on the other hand, promises that “purchasing a game should come with the guarantee of a fleshed out experience.” And leveraging the indie nature of the development team, they are hopeful that “the money we make from selling the game alone will be enough to support us and the development of free updates in the long run.”
While Paralives’ early access launch is a long way out in 2025, the game has already impressed with its detailed building mechanics. The gameplay overview trailer released today also paints a good picture of what’s to come.
