Paralives Review (PC)

It does take a lot to build a life simulation game. Probably the reason we don’t see many of those. The Sims, InZOI, among a few other ones that might have slipped under your radar. The minute The Sims established a formula that works, it has seemed impossible to innovate. Even for EA on The Sims franchise itself. So, when the devs say, “we created Paralives to innovate and offer a new take on the genre,” I took that with a grain of salt. 

It’s not very comforting that Paralives has launched into Early Access. And true, some Early Access games prove to be trailblazers in their pre-launch stage. But most Early Access games are unfinished and often riddled with bugs. Hate to burst your bubble, but that sentiment continues to prove true. We’re looking at years more of development and refinement to reach anywhere near The Sims. 

But then again, you have to consider that Paralives is an indie game with a small team behind its development. That alone is impressive to me, considering also the gameplay that is available in the Early Access version. These guys have a vision, that much is certain to me. After giving it a go, I wondered to myself, with a soft touch of optimism, mind you, whether they have what it takes to bring it home.

Here’s all you can expect so far in my Paralives review.

A Fresh Start

Everyone in Paralives boards a train to the seaside town of Melino. Here, you’ll find an open-world map waiting to be inhabited. Whatever capacity you see yourself occupying in Melino is totally up to you, just as your appearance and the kind of person you hope to be. A fresh start, essentially, with a blank canvas asking you to dream and dream big. 

If you prefer to dip your toes first before diving in, you totally can. Paralives will give you a template to build on if you so desire. Whether for your character’s appearance, their personality, role in their family, and house in which they live. You’ll find the mechanics pretty easy to become acquainted with, and before long, you’ll be building new lives, careers, and homes.

I know the move has been to create more realistic characters and worlds. That developers want your presence in the world to feel as surreal as possible. But we’re simply not there yet, and any attempt at realistic life sims ends up feeling off. Inauthentic, perhaps. Unnatural. Maybe the real world will forever be the only place we feel naturally placed. 

For that reason, I wasn’t mad at Paralives’ more cartoony aesthetic. The characters and world use hand-crafted visuals that have strong outlines and soft textures. It has a charm to it that feels fun. Yet, some may find the artistic choice a bit off. It’s a matter of choice, I suppose. You’ll either love or hate it, with no in-between. Personally, I love it. 

Reborn

As life simulation games go, your first order of business is to design and customize your character. And let me tell you, the character creation and customization tool in Paralives is beyond impressive. I was surprised to tweak so many minute details of my character’s appearance in the Early Access round. This is one feature where it feels complete. 

You can adjust the usual: hair style, skin tone, body mass, etc. And go further to adjust your height. There’s a color wheel for nearly every feature. Plus, the freedom to smooth out edges and curves on the face and eyes. If you had a photo of your ideal Para, you could refer to it and effectively create and design a near-perfect lookalike. 

And that’s the joy, really, of character customization, when you have the liberty to be creative and create any person you envision. And you can then accessorize them with clothing, which Paralives has also placed a heavy emphasis on. The clothing styles and varieties are immense, before moving on to the personality traits. 

And that’s where it gets a little tricky because so far, all you’ve done affects your appearance. But personality traits affect gameplay. They should practically dynamically affect your decisions and outcomes. And even more so, your place in the world and how other Parafolks react to you. The character creation tool lets you choose your character’s Vibe, Talents, Social Perks, and Lifestyles. Not too shabby. 

Place in the World

Out in the world, though, it soon becomes clear that Paralives is definitely far aways from being complete. When playing around with character creation, I experimented with all kinds of extreme personalities. You know, total asshole characters, but also soft, kind-hearted souls. I wanted to see how they’d fare in the world. 

I’ll say the world does boost your traits. Happy people become happier when they complete tasks. Lazy Parafolks sink deeper into debt. But it doesn’t feel quite there yet. In situations where characters might behave differently based on their personalities, they pretty much do the same thing. Heck, they might do nothing at all, which I credit to bugs.

I don’t want to linger on bugs too much because the devs do outright say that “some bugs will be present.” And present, they are. The camera needs work, for one. Still, the joy of life simulation is in relishing in the drama. When characters form spontaneous friendships based on their matching personalities, some of which you had nothing to do with, but say, place them in proximity. 

But characters don’t even have the autonomy to do the things that should occur to them naturally. You’re practically guiding their every move like a god, including when to relieve themselves. That’s all well and good, to an extent. When you do control and influence Parafolks’ lives. However, I much prefer domino effects in life simulation games that make the world feel alive. My only job should be setting the ball rolling.

Day to Day

And so, you’re left with exploring the town. It has shops, parks, and museums. You can get a job, though the career progression path is a little too easy. You’re free to make new friends, possibly fall in love, and raise a family. Or make enemies. Interestingly, you can control one Para or a group of Parafolks. Perhaps a family with members of the same age or varying age differences. On the same thread, you can organize group activities. It’ll be interesting to see how this world evolves with more roles and things to do.

In the Early Access Steam page, the devs promise to add the following upcoming features in the coming months:

• Family trees
• NPC story paths
• Pets like cats and horses
• Town creation and editing tools
• Dynamic weather and seasonal changes
• Automobiles, including bikes and boats
• Swimming, gardening, and fishing activities
• More personality traits, wants, emotions, jobs, etc

Some of these will really make a difference in the current state of the game. So, I’m hopeful that Paralives may actually turn out to be an unstoppable force going head-to-head with The Sims. I’m pretty optimistic after toying around with the Build Mode, which is the second feature that feels near-complete.

Brick by Brick

Forget grid-based building. Paralives allows you complete freedom over where to place your walls, floors, and furniture. You can resize and reshape the structure of your house, including adding curved walls. And the color wheel adds that final touch of polish. But even more impressive is how you can move and stack clutter objects. Those of you with a liking for clutter will enjoy the freedom the Build Mode gives. 

Moreover, the variety of furniture and decor pieces is impressive. I can totally see myself building my dream eight-storey mansion here. Now, if only the actual gameplay had depth. At present, Paralives has the foundational structure of the building systems. But the gameplay still needs a lot of work.

Verdict

Until then, I’m hesitant to give a verdict. The devs are outright asking the community for feedback to work in tandem and bring the vision of the next big life sim to life. The pieces you need for an excellent life sim are here. So, as far “potential” goes, Paralives could very well become an unstoppable force in the genre. 

Character customization is so extensive, but the personality traits are a letdown in the actual gameplay integration. Meanwhile, building your houses is so much fun because of the immense flexibility, variety, and style. 

Beyond building, the gameplay still has a long way to go to truly engross you in the lives of the Parafolks. To become fully invested, you need the characters to have autonomy over the things they should naturally do and those that might surprise you. The same for your Para, who needs constant attention to function. Bugs are also present, but I’m confident those will be addressed during the Early Access round, as will the release of content updates.

At its current state, Paralives shows promise. Whether it’ll deliver on its promise depends on the devs’ updates over the next two years.