Paralives early access review: loads of promise, but Live mode needs serious work

Paralives – the indie life-sim gunning for The Sims throne – hit Steam early access on May 25. It started as a solo project from Alex Massé, who previously worked on PewDiePie's Tuber Simulator, before he built out a full team under Paralives Studios. Kotaku's hands-on says the game has genuine potential, but it's not quite ready to dethrone anyone yet.

Paralives splits into two modes: Live and Build. Build mode is the standout. You can resize almost any object by dragging it – turn a twin bed into a California king, curve walls, clone surfaces with a pipette tool, and tweak the color of nearly every item individually. The reviewer admits Build mode felt like a different, better game entirely. Live mode is where things get frustrating. Getting two Paras – Ash and Travis – to simply share a meal together took three straight in-game days of clicking through three floors, because the AI kept hijacking commands to fulfill basic needs the moment you turned your back. Sitting on the couch and watching TV are two separate actions that can't run simultaneously, so Paras end up standing rigidly behind the couch staring at the screen. Clicking a Para's portrait doesn't snap the camera to them either – there's a separate camera icon on the same portrait you have to find first.

The timing matters. The Sims 4 community has been souring for years over mounting performance issues made worse by a sprawling catalog of paid DLC packs. Since The Sims 4 is free-to-play, a vocal chunk of the fanbase accuses EA of prioritizing monetization over fixing bugs. EA's ongoing acquisition by the Saudi Arabian government – known for its anti-LGBTQ stance – has further alienated the franchise's famously queer and inclusive community, even as EA insists it will retain creative control.

Paralives is positioning itself as the alternative: all future DLC will be free, user-generated content support is planned, and the UI should feel familiar to anyone coming from The Sims. Fix the clunky Live mode controls and navigation, and this could be the off-ramp disaffected Sims players have been waiting for.