Paralives

Paralives is a life simulation game developed and published by Paralives Studio for Windows and macOS. The game features character creation, house building, and life simulation gameplay set within an open world environment. It was released in early access on May 25, 2026.

## Contents

* 1 Gameplay
* 2 Development
* 3 Marketing and release
* 4 See also
* 5 References
* 6 External links

## Gameplay

Paralives takes place in an open world environment with employment opportunities alongside events such as festivals.[1] Players can build houses, create characters and control their lives in a desired way.[2][3][4]

The character creator, titled as "Paramaker",[5] allows the customization of the appearance and personality of "Parafolk", the name of the in-game characters. Players are able to customize the physique and height of the Parafolk. The root and shade of hair, clothing and accessories can be toggled as intended using color swatches, color wheels and texture selection.[6][7]

A similar system is in place for objects and structures, allowing the player to adjust the size, placement, color and texture of walls, floors, windows, doors, and furniture.[8]

The simulation aspect of the game features "together cards" that appear to players after a "together bar" is filled up during a character's conversation.[9]

## Development

Paralives is being developed by indie game designer Alex Massé.[5] After working on several projects such as PewDiePie's Tuber Simulator and a number of demos for Project Tiny, Massé quit his job and began developing Paralives regularly.[4] Development of the game started in January 2019 and was officially announced in June 2019.[10] The game is developed using Unity.

Paralives was initially a solo project by Massé, but as of June 2025, the team had expanded to fourteen people, collectively forming Paralives Studio.[5][11] Massé created Paralives to offer a sense of endless customization with "powerful and intuitive tools that allow players to easily create any house with precision".[4] He was inspired by the road tool in Software:Cities: Skylines and developed a similar tool in Paralives for building houses.[5] The developers incorporated the technique of procedural animation, which involves automatic reactions based on previously created animations to save developing time.

The game was funded through the crowdfunding platform Patreon and backers are invited to propose suggestions regarding content they would like to see in the full release.[4] Massé chose to use Patreon after seeing Ooblets's success on the service. By November 2023, the Paralives Patreon page had over 15,000 supporters and earned over $35,000 per month.[12] Massé confirmed that Paralives would not receive paid downloadable content, instead the game will be supported through free updates during and after Early Access.[13][4][14]

Following the game's Early Access launch, Paralives Studio published a development roadmap estimating approximately two years of Early Access development before version 1.0 will be available.[15]

## Marketing and release

In January 2021, Paralives won the title of "Most Anticipated Canadian Game" in a poll organised by CanadianGameDevs.com.[16]

On June 12, 2021, Paralives featured in Wholesome Direct event, showcasing the game's building tools.[17] In July 2024, as part of Paralives Studio's showcase at the 2024 Montreal Comiccon, a Paralives booth was set up for attendees to try the build mode demo of the game. [citation needed] The developer revealed the Early Access release date alongside the game's new trailer during the PC Gaming Show on June 8, 2025.[18]

Paralives was released in Early Access on Steam for Windows and macOS on May 25, 2026, at a price of US $39.99.[19][20][21][22][23] The game launched to a positive player reception, selling 250,000 copies within eight hours of its launch on Steam.[24] Within the first month after release, the game managed to sell 1 million copies.[25]

## See also

* InZOI
* The Sims

## References

1. ↑ Schermann, Natalie (2020-06-12). "Paralives ist das alternative Sims von Fans für Fans" (in de). https://www.gamestar.de/artikel/paralives-preview-das-neue-die-sims-lebenssimulation,3358689.html.
2. ↑ "'Paralives', un simulador de vida que recuerda a unos sims personalizados al máximo detalle" (in es). 2020-06-08. https://www.20minutos.es/gonzoo/noticia/4282392/0/paralives-un-simulador-de-vida-que-recuerda-a-unos-sims-personalizados-al-detalle/.
3. ↑ Farrow, Colette (2026-05-30). "Paralives Game Explained: What We Know in 2026" (in en-US). https://gameluster.com/paralives-explained-is-this-the-life-sim-rival-fan/.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Welch-Murphy, Emma (2019-08-15). "Why Paralives Is Looking To Be The Sim's New Rival" (in en). Game Informer. https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/08/15/why-paralives-is-looking-to-be-the-sims-new-rival. Retrieved 2020-04-12.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Bell, Alice (2020-07-06). "Interview: the art and inspiration of Paralives, the indie game set to take on The Sims". https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2020/07/06/interview-the-art-and-inspiration-of-paralives-the-indie-game-set-to-take-on-the-sims/.
6. ↑ Wald, Heather (2020-05-20). "Sims competitor Paralives shows off new character creator". https://www.gamesradar.com/uk/sims-competitor-paralives-shows-off-new-character-creator/.
7. ↑ "Height Sliders Confirmed as Paralives Team Reveals Character Design" (in en-GB). 19 May 2020. https://paraliveshub.com/height-sliders-confirmed-as-paralives-team-reveals-character-design.
8. ↑ Plunkett, Luke (2020-05-19). "Paralives, A New Sims-Like Game, Looks Cool". https://kotaku.com/paralives-a-new-sims-like-game-looks-cool-1843551132.
9. ↑ Morton, Lauren (2024-02-07). "Paralives will enter early access in 2025 and will never have paid DLCs, only free expansions". https://www.pcgamer.com/paralives-will-enter-early-access-in-2025-and-will-never-have-paid-dlcs-only-free-expansions/.
10. ↑ "Development" (in en-US). https://www.paralives.com/development.
11. ↑ "Press Kit" (in en-US). https://www.paralives.com/press-kit.
12. ↑ Watts, Rachel (2020-07-30). "How Paralives is using Patreon to compete with The Sims". https://www.pcgamer.com/how-paralives-is-using-patreon-to-compete-with-the-sims/.
13. ↑ Blake, Vikki (2026-05-28). "Developer of Steam Hit Life Sim Paralives Promises Never to Sell Paid DLC — and It Has a Great Explanation for How It Will Manage Without the Revenue" (in en). https://www.ign.com/articles/developer-of-steam-hit-life-sim-paralives-explains-how-it-can-manage-without-selling-paid-dlc.
14. ↑ Shearon, Andrea (2026-05-27). "Paralives early access roadmap and current features" (in en). PC Gamer. https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/paralives-early-access-roadmap/.
15. ↑ Shearon, Andrea (2026-05-27). "Paralives early access roadmap and current features" (in en). PC Gamer. https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/paralives-early-access-roadmap/.
16. ↑ "CanadianGameDevs.com 2020 End of Year Poll Winners". https://x.com/CanadaGameDevs/status/1348732677290156043?s=20.
17. ↑ Valentine, Rebekah (2021-06-12). "Wholesome Direct: Everything Announced, Including Lake Release Date, Skatebird Accessibility - Summer of Gaming" (in en). https://www.ign.com/articles/wholesome-direct-everything-announced-lake-release-date-skatebird-ooblets-summer-of-gaming.
18. ↑ Taylor, Mollie (2025-06-08). "Paralives finally has a release date so I can finally go wild on its delightfully tactile building and endlessly cozy vibes" (in en). PC Gamer. https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/paralives-finally-has-a-release-date-so-i-can-finally-go-wild-on-its-delightfully-tactile-building-and-endlessly-cozy-vibes/.
19. ↑ Chalk, Andy (November 14, 2025). "Paralives is delayed until May 2026: 'The latest feedback we received made us realize the game isn’t up to the standard we wanted" (in en). PC Gamer. https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/the-life-sim-revolution-may-not-be-over-but-it-will-have-to-wait-until-2026-because-paralives-is-delayed/.
20. ↑ "Paralives" (in en). https://www.ign.com/games/paralives.
21. ↑ Thwaites, Sarah (2026-05-27). "Paralives Early Access Review" (in en). https://www.ign.com/articles/paralives-review-early-access.
22. ↑ Taylor, Mollie (2026-05-20). "Paralives is the very definition of early access, but it's already a promising Sims rival" (in en). PC Gamer. https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/paralives-is-the-very-definition-of-early-access-but-its-already-a-promising-sims-rival/.
23. ↑ Morton, Lauren (2026-05-25). "Paralives launch times and release date" (in en). PC Gamer. https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/paralives-launch-time-release-date/.
24. ↑ Koselke, Anna (May 26, 2026). "The Sims 4's colorful new competitor Paralives celebrates 250,000 sales and "Very Positive" reviews, with fans saying they'll "probably never go back" to EA's own life sim". Future plc. https://www.gamesradar.com/games/simulation/the-sims-4s-colorful-new-competitor-paralives-celebrates-250-000-sales-and-very-positive-reviews-with-fans-saying-theyll-probably-never-go-back-to-eas-own-life-sim/.
25. ↑ "The life sim Paralives has sold one million copies". June 24, 2026. https://news.instant-gaming.com/en/articles/20400-the-life-sim-paralives-has-sold-one-million-copies.

## External links

* Official website

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