In the realm of life simulators, The Sims has long reigned supreme, largely unchallenged by any credible contenders.
With The Sims 4 almost being a decade old, you’d think that people would stop playing it by now, but with the steady release of expansion and DLCs packs, Electronic Arts has their players wrapped around their fingers.
I believe that’s due to the lack of competitors The Sims has in the first place.
As someone who has started their Sims journey since 2007 with The Sims 2 and didn’t know the existence of downloadable custom content online or mods, I would get bored of it more often than not.
Eventually, I found myself downloading IMVU and Habbo, both of which paled in comparison to The Sims. However, they were life simulators that allowed me to create to the finest details my character, as well as allowing me to create new lots, not only for me but for the online community as well.
Despite the gorgeous and hilarious online communities these games had, I kept returning to The Sims.
Moreover, without an open world like The Sims 3 had, or the ability to control my Sims relationships with NPCs or player-created characters as well as the unique cartoonish design that only The Sims has, there really wasn’t any competition for them.
Plus, where else can I practise my architecture and interior design skills whilst I build flats, cottages, and mansions?
Fast forward to 2023, and you have Paralives and Life by You, both huge fans of The Sims, who have decided to create new ways of playing a life simulator game.
Paralives has been in development since 2019 and is growing a loyal and supporting fanbase of over 13,000 on Patreon, where the team keeps them up to speed on what they’ve been working on.
It has raised high expectations within the life simulator community since it’s giving them features that were repeatedly asked by The Sims community but often ignored by the franchise.
I’ve seen many comments of loyal Sims players excited to play the new game and drop the other one, although I think that won’t be as straightforward as they make it out to be. If someone has spent a significant amount of money to get all the different types of packs as well as adding mods and custom content, I believe the base game of Paralives won’t offer much in comparison.
From what I’ve seen throughout the past months, Paralives developers have been making their sims parafolks more editable with height adjustments, tattoo and moles placement and scaling, and not being restrained when it comes to clothes linked to gender. That means, regardless of your parafolk’s gender, you can equip them with any outfits.
When it comes to lots instead, they’ve been adding many detailed decorations to differ from The Sims. Players can resize, stack, and flip an object as well as having the freedom to choose which side of the toilet paper you want the end to come out of from its holder. You can also choose how you want your kitchen cupboards to look or how big you want your bed by simply dragging a corner.
Do you need drawers? No drawers? One drawer? What about the bed? Do you want one pillow? Or three pillows? King sized or a single one? The options seem endless.
Whilst Paralives emphasises on detailed customisations for characters and lots, Life by You adopts The Sims 3’s approach by providing a complete open world and an extensive modding platform.
The early access to the game was initially scheduled for September 2023 but has since been postponed to March. Those who had paid for it were all refunded, and that action alone has made them support the company, Paradox Interactive, even more.
With the trailer already out, gamers are encouraged to create their own open world, and are allowed to take control of any sims on the map. This enables them to closely follow their daily routines, from heading to work or school, to witnessing their activities and interactions in school and work–an immersive experience unlike The Sims 4, where characters vanish and reappear hours later, unless you have the Get To Work expansion pack.
With EA’s monopoly in the life simulator genre, the arrival of Paralives and Life by You has created much anticipation.
I can’t wait to play both games and see how EA will act, especially since they announced back in October 2022 that The Sims 5 is under development, codenamed Project Rene, which appears to have intriguing similarities with their newest competitors, Paralives.
The latest news regarding Project Rene is that the game will be available for free to download and will coexist alongside Sims 4.