Paralives

I was so deeply looking forward to this game - I've got 30 hours in it now and feel like I have explored the majority of what there is to offer. I am so disappointed to say that this game is lacking a soul. Interactions between paras is very clunky and there feels like very little progression. A paras daily life will look the same from the day they are born to the day they day. Build mode is fine - despite the customisability available, the volume of items is surprisingly lacking. The open world is great! But again, a bit soulless. Children/ babies/ toddlers have very few interactions available to them and almost no dedicated items or actions. Elders are no different to adults except for their appearance. Time moves very quickly in this game, I think this is part of the problem - my paras lives are over in the blink of an eye, I don't have time to get invested in them. Especially when I am spending 80% of the time taking care of their basic needs. Some personality points and traits are exceptionally more powerful than others - some do nothing, there is very little in between. Additionally, performance is a problem. My specs are well and above the recommended best settings and I am experiencing awful clipping, lagging and routing errors every few minutes. I hope this is a priority point for improvement. I so badly want to love this game and I am disappointed with the lack of updates as per their promised schedule so far. I am hopeful the Para team, who have worked so hard on this game, can turn it around soon.

i can't recommend the game in this state. the paramaker is great, though it lacks some minor stuff, but it's okay, since mods already exist. the build/buy mode is amazing too if i don't count the fact that the grid only shows up when building walls (no, G doesn't do anything), so now i have trouble aligning the stairs with the fence so they just look botched and uneven (the columns too), and if i also don't count the fact that i had to watch multiple tutorials and look up on reddit on how to build f*cking foundations (why is it so complicated? i haven't played paralives since those first days when it came out and i genuinely do not even remember how to do it anymore so i can't even describe right now so that y'all understand how stupidly complex the process is), then yeah, the build mode is lovely. but i don't play a LIFE SIM game to not let my characters actually live, and the life mode is the reason i can't play it even though it's the whole f*cking point of a LIFE SIM game, again. multitasking? nope, your para will read standing up in front of the bookshelf, because as a real reader myself i read standing up too, of course, for hours upon end with scoliosis and a sick kidney. you cooked some food? well, about that... the fridge doesn't really do anything except letting you cook, but "my food will expire, so let's put it in the fridge, like actual people do", well no, dumb*ss, it doesn't work that way, you can't put food in the fridge, even though all those stardew valley knockoffs have that option that were significantly less costly to make so every furniture item has an inventory, but we don't have that option! but you can make the bed have 30 pillows and be 50 feet long so that's neat! 🥰 you wanted your para and their friend to talk about weather? well, no, you can only choose between other three options that you don't care about; you also must babysit them because they can't just talk on their own and become closer or have a chance of becoming enemies or randomly becoming lovers while you do something else, but you can put a random *ss picture on a rug, so don't complain because the sims 4 doesn't have it! and by the way, how dare you open your mouth and tell the devs what needs fixing, even though they asked that of you themselves? go back and play the sims 4, because paralives is better simply because it's not the sims 4! i hate ts4 too, but you people are so f*cking obnoxious, you're only capable of toxic positivity, and when someone rightfully voices a critique, you attack them, and don't tell me i'm imagining sh*t. and i'm not the type of loser who's crying about a life simulator having stuff from the real life (pronouns or being infertile, for example), but this game having this many positive reviews is lowkey nuts. it's bare bones and it's boring. i was waiting for paralives to come out since it was announced and i remember being a little upset when they said that gardening wouldn't be available lol, but i didn't expect that the f*cking fridge wouldn't count as an inventory/storage object because i thought that it's a bare minimum, so holy sh*t my bad? but i guess being able to put a naked dude/girl/person on a body pillow is more important. i'll change my review later, i HOPE i do, i really do! this game has so much potential and i didn't expect it to be perfect (i was quite happy when they delayed the release in december, actually), but this? no. unless you're only interested in making families and giving birth or making pretty paras or building, i wouldn't recommend it, very unfortunately. (and i did report bugs and all this stuff i listed to their website btw, don’t doxx me) edit: because i'm dyslexic and didn't see that i used the same words repeatedly.

I wanted to recommend this game, but right now, I can't. I guess my recommendation is to give it time, not completely stay away from it. This isn't to be negative or to attack the developers, I firmly believe constructive criticism is something that's valuable, especially with a game that's in Early Access. Pretending everything is perfect because it isn't The Sims 4, doesn't help the development team improve or set realistic expectations for new players. Yeah, it's an Early Access game, bugs, missing features - they're expected. My concerns have less to do with the unfinished content and more to do with how little depth the current gameplay offers after such a long development cycle AND the price tag that comes with such lack luster development and content. - Animations feel rigid and unnatural, especially movement. - Gameplay loop becomes repetitive real quick, real fast. There's very minimal sense of progression or accomplishment, and interacting with the world doesn't feel meaningful. - Other Paras feel weirdly passive, the world lacks the autonomy that makes life simulation games feel .. alive. - Absence of meaningful multitasking makes everyday actions feel slower and not so natural. - Performance is really poor for the game's visual complexity, experiencing noticeable slowdowns on hardware that definitely shouldn't have any trouble running it. - Stability still needs a LOT of work. That said there's some good things worth praising: - Character creation is pretty decent with the customization options available. - Build mode is one of the strongest features of the game right now and has a lot of potential. - Developers obviously have ambitious ideas, I don't doubt there's passion in the project. My question is how this is where the project stands after several years of development and years of community funding. I get that a lot of work happens behind the scenes, but even taking that into account, it's hard to reconcile the current amount of playable content and polish with the length of development. What makes that even harder to overlook is the price. For what's currently available, I think the price is difficult to justify. Looking back, I honestly wish I had spent my money on something else instead of taking a gamble of this current version of the game. That's the nature of Early Access though, sometimes you buy in and it's immediately obvious where the years of development and crowdfunding has gone, even if features are still missing... Other times, like this game, the progress feels a lot slower than expected and you're left wondering where all that time translated into the experience you're playing today. I really hope Paralives grows into the game that a lot of us have been waiting for because I want it to do great.. Right now though, I can't recommend it with it's current price and in it's current state. For me, it's a "not yet" game, I'll happily revisit and update this review in a few years when it gets some major updates ;) I'm kicking myself for leaving the game running when I went AFK because I would definitely return it for a refund in a heart beat.

needs a lot of work.. I wasn't impressed like everyone else. The Sims is far better This game just isn't for me and that's okay, kudos to the ones who enjoyed it.. not paying that much for a mid tier game with okay graphics, cards.. not interactions CARDS that offers nothing to less than new to the genre much better things to spend my money on.. oh and the glitches. be prepared

Paralives does not deserve to be sitting at ‘very positive’ on steam. As an average consumer I couldn’t possibly recommend this game in its current state. Even as a lover of life simulation games, you would be better off buying Inzoi as it is currently a much better early access experience. The live mode in the game is absolutely terrible. It is so underdeveloped and buggy that it feels like playing an alpha build. Relationships have no depth, characters have no personality, NPCs walk around aimlessly, raising children has no depth whatsoever etc. The performance is also absolutely terrible which I have seen so many games get (fairly) criticised for yet everyone excuses it with Paralives? At this point Paralives isn’t a life simulator at all, but simply a pretty building game with ok character customisation. I don’t believe its current price tag is worth it (and its only going to get more expensive) and I don’t believe the team have the skillset to make this the game everyone thinks its going to be. I also can’t look past the team having a paid Patreon for years and not even the highest tier Patreons got the game for free? Just because it’s an indie game does not excuse bad behaviour. All of the trailers also showed gameplay that doesn’t actually exist, even the trailer that came out a day before release was misleading. I have played many early access games and had an excellent experience with all of them, that is simply not an excuse for how bad this game currently is. I’ve never seen such toxic positivity in a community before. I wish I’d waited at least a year before buying this as in it’s current state you’d be better off buying 2 or 3 actually high quality indie games.

big flop, it felt like the biggest deception for me this year, maybe it is my fault for having such high expectations...

Хочется влить немного информации, что бы люди поняли почему у игры проблемы (и это я говорю как человек который ждал эту игру): Ее начали разрабатывать еще до выхода симс4, просто какой-то чел делился наработками (кажется в твиттере) и ему кидали донаты как очередному творцу. После выхода симс4 он, на хайпе ненависти к игре, сказал "да я все время строил замену симс4 что бы народу нравилось, фу корпораты которым только деньги нужны", ему повалили бОльшие донаты со всех щелей, к нему начали присоединяться другие программеры и разработка понеслась. А сколько же они наобещали на релизе (список того что обещали в базе на момент релиза и не выполнили: питомцы, погода, мультизадачность (хотя бы на уровне симс1, по факту они даже телик сидя не смотрят), автономия, открытый мир (да он есть но он бесполезный, загрузки все равно есть и полно кроличьих нор), оптимизация...ничего по факту не сделали, там больше половины вообще не реализовано до сих пор, они потом переобулись и сказали что все не влезет. А сколько лет игру переносили и продолжали обещать что все это ради лучшего продукта, что бы люди не получили шлак, но люди получили недоразвитую игру которую язык не поворачивается даже демкой назвать (и это за 40 долларов, извините я плачу что бы быть тестером или что???), а кстати вакансия тестеров удалилась, ну а чо, с лошков бабло срубили и рубят, зачем платить за тест когда платят тебе действительно на их канале они выпускали видео геймплея еще в 2025 году, но там жестко наепывали игроков, потому что видео тупо склейка из нормальных кадров, а баги удалялись, ЗАТО они потратили силы на поезд, клоунские приколы, на костюмы амогусов да, на комнату с коллабы и на разрушение предметов... это же так важно ребят она позиционирует себя как симулятор жизни, хотя по факту является им лишь на половину, там намешали рпг, днд (которые в игре про симуляцию жизни вообще не упали), ты из-за этого не можешь взять под контроль игру, потому что тебе каждый раз впаривают новые карточки с такими жизненными целями которые тебе вообще не подходят, и как же сложно залететь от собственного мужа, когда разговор о ребенке и его зачатие зависит от тупого колесика и рандома (что это, игра с Якубовичем и барабаном?), уровень у дружбы и персонажа, зачем, что это вообще дает? предметы в игре имеют разную цену, но при этом дают одинаковые бусты, вспомните симс, комфорт, сон, уют и тд и зависело от цены предмета и даже его вид зависит от цены, а у Паралайвс чо? а ниче, там все дает одинаковые характеристики не зависимо от цены и вида предмета)) и еще раз....больше 7 лет разработки.... это еще не говоря про их хайповое строительство, где стены можно крутить в круг но на такие стены не нацепить буквально НИЧЕГО, зачем они нужны? а это увеличение предметов, которое багует, постоянное отсутствие крыши у дома, из-за чего свет проникает вообще во все щели, увеличение мелких предметов, которые УМЕНЬШАЮТСЯ когда с ними взаимодействует персонаж (еще раз, зачем это тогда создавалось??), а отражение в зеркале все видели?. а мой любимый рост, который буквально невозможно нормально спрограмировать, потому что персонажей можно сделать меньше буквально на пару сантиметров и все сразу ломается, поцелуи проваливаются в лицах, вместо смотрения в лицо ты смотришь над головой или в грудь персонажа лол, и люди поносили симс за отсутствие разнообразия в росте персонажей....ммм, ну может была причина?) зажравшиеся модами игроки епт и это за 40 долларов???? да, допы бесплатные но они сказали что цена за базу будет увеличиваться и дальше. кайф) и давай без защитничков которые втирают за 15 землекопов, в то время как та же фазма или холов кнайт создавались двумя калеками, первая игра так вообще одним человеком и что мы имеем? работающие и интересные игры и нет, симулятор жизни не намного сложнее в разработке, особенно когда ты получил за все больше трех лямов долларов, можно было бы нанять и профи, однако вакансии разработчиков у них тоже закрыты, ведь намного выгоднее оставаться инди-компание и прикрывать свою жепу этой информацией в случае очередных ошибок и не надо говорить что симс4 был хуже на релизе, нет ребят, он не был НАСТОЛЬКО хуже, но поносят его почему-то больше и нет ребятушки, ранний доступ не оправдание и меня жутко бесят позитивные отзывы в игре, которая на данный момент заслуживает исключительно критику пока не исправится, просить деньги за такой продукт просто стыдно должно быть

I feel like this game is getting glazed hard, and maybe I'm not the target audience. I didn't find it that fun or interesting in its current state. I want to highlight that part: "in its current state." The game is in Early Access, and I acknowledge there's still a lot of work to be done—if the game improves, I will definitely change my recommendation. The character creator tool is incredible—hands down probably the best in its genre. The building is also very modern and currently better than any other life sim game. Unfortunately, that's where the charm ends for me. I spent some time trying to get into the actual gameplay, but something about the way Parafolk socialize just isn't hitting the mark. When characters converse, you don't actually gain any insight into what’s happening between them. You just wait for a conversation bar to fill while their mouths incoherently move, and then you're allowed to steer the conversation with a binary pass/fail check. They feel robotic, often standing completely still and lifeless, showing no emotion or body language when interacting with other Parafolk. It also feels like it's lacking the organic humor and fun that made The Sims so great. I'll end my thoughts by saying I think the groundwork is there for an incredible life sim game; it's just not there yet for me. It still needs a lot of work.

I play The Sims 1-4 to InZoi, and now this game, I’m speaking as a hardcore fan of life-sims and building games. Honestly, this game still has tons of bugs that need fixing. The gameplay feels super limited right now, and the building mechanics are easy for your building but end up looking broken or incomplete. I get that the system tries to offer a lot of freedom, but that freedom comes at a cost—you often can't even interact with or pick up the items you've placed. Plus, resizing or stretching certain objects ruins their look, to the point I give up and have to swap them out for different furniture. for the gameplay, like I said, it’s extremely limited. There’s barely anything to do, and many features are currently unavailable. I've even seen NPC building/items floating in mid-air. Sometimes, game-breaking/ bugs , and I can't do anything at all. The NPCs also feel completely lifeless. When you zoom into their houses, they have zero daily routines—they just lie in the exact same spot without moving. As for the conversation system to build relationships—whether it's becoming friends, partners, etc.—we have to spend too much time waiting for the chat options to randomly the ones that actually progress the relationship. And it just never gives me the options I actually need. I end up wasting days just trying to get to know someone because the system relies entirely on RNG (randomness). It’s incredibly frustrating and a massive waste of time, to the point where my character can't do anything else with the NPCs. Don't get me wrong, I totally understand that this is just Early Access and it still needs a lot of work before it becomes a 'truly playable' game. But before that, buying it right now for a full-immersive experience might not be worth it. If you buy it now, you’re better off just waiting for updates. I really hope the game becomes fully polished and ready to play in the future.

Honestly I don't understand half of the comments that have been supporting the game in it's current state. The game is very much in early access and yes I understand that many updates will come, but the world feels lifeless and boring. The gameplay is lacking A LOT, and other than the art style and certain aspects of customization there really isn't much here at all to warrant the overwhelming positive response. People are either lying, have never played a good life sim before or are paid by the devs. I genuinely don't understand how anyone can call this game fun or good right now.