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Paralives on Steam
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Paralives is a life simulation game about building homes, lives and bonds. Through both hardship and success, where will your story take you?
Paralives is a life sim, character customization and simulation game
developed by Alex Massé and team
and published by Paralives Studio.
Released on May 25th 2026 is available on Windows and MacOS
in 8 languages: English, French, Italian, German, Polish, Portuguese - Brazil, Spanish - Latin America and Simplified Chinese.
It has received 20,208 reviews of which 17,985 were positive and 2,223 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.7 out of 10. 😎
The game is currently priced at 31.19€ on Steam with a 20% discount.
The Steam community has classified Paralives into these genres:
Life Sim
Character Customization
Simulation
Building
Indie
Open World
LGBTQ+
Singleplayer
Sandbox
Relaxing
Casual
Early Access
Cozy
Cute
Family Friendly
Moddable
Realistic
Immersive Sim
Atmospheric
Here is the detailed breakdown of supported languages for Paralives:
| UI | Subtitle | Audio | |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | |||
| German | |||
| French | |||
| Italian | |||
| Simplified Chinese | |||
| Polish | |||
| Portuguese - Brazil | |||
| Spanish - Latin America |
Media & Screenshots
Get an in-depth look at Paralives through various videos and screenshots.
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System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- OS: Windows 10
- Processor: Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 @ 2.5 GHz
- Memory: 12 GB RAM
- Graphics: GTX 1060 or RX 6600 XT
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 8 GB available space
- Additional Notes: If your framerate is low, lower the display resolution and other graphic settings
MacOS
- Requires an Apple processor
- OS: macOS Big Sur 11 (or newer)
- Processor: Apple M2
- Memory: 12 GB RAM
- Graphics: Apple M2
- Additional Notes: If your framerate is low, lower the display resolution and other graphic settings
Steam Price & Best Deals
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
Lifetime Sims player here. Playing this game is like stepping into your first healthy relationship after a decade of being with your toxic ex. A breath of fresh air, it's so cozy, and it feels good to play it after a long day. Yes, there are bugs, but for such a small team, they're really putting in the effort to bring their players something truly special. I'm looking forward to many memories with Paralives.
This game is honestly really good. It is buggy, though, so beware. It truly is Early Access, and the bugs can sometimes become annoying. However, the gameplay is so much more fun and interesting than The Sims that I can't go back now. I've read some reviews here and would like to address a few things. People seem to be upset about the timeline and how this doesn't feel like a game worth the money. That's partially true — it's priced like a full game, but it still has lots of bugs and not a huge amount of features. That said, it's genuinely fun, and I don't regret buying it at all. I've seen people complaining about weather features. There are none right now, and the developers claim they will be available in about two years. Apparently, some people are not happy about that. As we all know, the biggest competition is The Sims, and naturally people compare the two. But let's remember that weather isn't part of The Sims base game either — it's included in the Seasons expansion pack. That expansion costs more than this game (at least in my country), and it wasn't available from the start. In fact, Seasons was released about 2 years after The Sims 2, 3 years after The Sims 3, and almost 4 years after The Sims 4. Because of that, I don't think Paralives' timeline is unreasonable at all. People who think weather is an easy feature to implement are seriously underestimating how complex it is. I'd love to hear recommendations for games that are cheaper, run better, and include advanced weather systems from day one, because The Sims definitely isn't one of them. I've also seen people complaining about the lack of multitasking features. These weren't available in The Sims 2 or The Sims 3 at all. They were introduced in The Sims 4, but they were buggy at launch and, honestly, still are. Your Sims can spend three hours eating a meal because they're holding a conversation and carrying a plate around the house. It's not an easy feature to implement, and even after all these years The Sims 4 still struggles with it. The build mode is mostly amazing. Don't try to heavily edit already-created buildings, though, because that can become a huge hassle. If a house is placed in an awkward way on the grid, placing and connecting walls can be absolute hell. I tried editing some existing houses and failed miserably. When I built my own house on a normal grid, everything worked pretty well. The narrator, conversations, and social interactions are much cooler than what we have in The Sims. They give you some direction, and conversations aren't just about spamming "Compliment" or "Flirt" twenty times until you get the result you want. You don't always know what dialogue options will appear, and each option shows your chance of success for that particular topic. For me, that's a huge plus. It feels more genuine, and finding love is actually a challenge now, which I like. If you prefer pure god-mode gameplay where you control everything, then maybe The Sims is more your style. One thing that is annoying: you can't place food in the fridge. However, you can click the box icon after selecting the food and store it in your inventory. It basically works like a fridge because the food doesn't spoil there. You can make multiple portions and save them for later. I've seen people complain about this, so hopefully this tip helps someone. All in all, I think Paralives already offers more than The Sims 4 did at its base-game launch. The developers are responsive, communicate with the community, and work on the game constantly. This feels like a breath of fresh air for the life-sim genre, and I genuinely hope it keeps getting better and better because I really don't want to go back to The Sims now.
Paralives ' early access launch is kinda rough, but it's also inspiring. After fiddling with everything there is to fiddle with, I'm so impressed by what Alex Massé et al accomplished that I have to recommend it to fellow life sim and building fans. Gameplay + Details Standard social simulation sandbox: lots of point-and-click, balancing needs and wants, and no set story. Paras develop personalities, "perks," and relationships over time, and can start families, age up, and die. Controls. I've only played with keyboard/mouse. Friends have noted issues with trackpad and SteamDeck. Settings/Options. Optional autosave, 24-hour clock, edge scrolling, etc. Folks with motion sickness or weaker graphic cards should reduce camera sensitivity off the bat, or tweak framerate caps and rendering distances. "Measurement units" is hilarious; do you measure things by metric, banana, or Texas? What Works For Me ✅ Build Mode. While initially unintuitive and frustrating, the build mode is clever and insanely flexible. Walls won't always match up. The eyedropper is unreliable. You have to experiment a bit before anything does what you want it to do, but with some practice, anyone who loves building or decorating can go crazy here. ✅ Character Customization. Like TS4, you can select default features and then slider-adjust everything from eyelids to feet and add tattoos, scars, moles, body hair, etc. Unlike TS4, you can also adjust height. Eye shapes, nose, shoulders, and other bits can be fiddly, but body shapes are not gender-locked and there's such potential for creativity. Hairstyles are limited but flattering, and most allow root/base/highlight swatches. Also, semi-functional "create from genetics", built-in "NB", and fertility options. ✅ Clothing Customization. Paras can have multiple casual, formal, athletic, and sleep outfits. Items are layerable (e.g. if you pick a cardigan, you can customize the undershirt) and not gender-locked. Everything is recolorable! Accessories and nails can be toggled left, right, or both sides. There aren't many options, but I've enjoyed mixing and matching. ✅ Quests. Not only is the world populated with collectibles you can submit to a museum or community center bundle, but there's also a request board where paras can take missions like "start a fire" or "check on elders" to earn extra pocket change and friendship points. It's an extra-cozy reason to mosey around, chat with folks, and interact with the world. ✅ Perks. Paras' "Vibe," "Social Perk," "Talent," and jobs level up to unlock new "perks" with interesting effects. One of my paras gains skills while sleeping and has a workplace perk called "free money." Another makes everyone sad, then feeds on their sadness. It's such an interesting spin on a traits system. ✅ Storytelling. When starting a save file, choose a chaotic or normal "Storyteller" to meddle in relationships via randomly drawn "together cards" and draw daily "cards" that impact gameplay. I've only played with Chaos Pirate so far and his impact is kinda meh, but I like the idea and nightly card draws. ✅ Town Design. The town is so cute! It's a wonderful blend of Montreal and Quebec City, and I love exploring the nooks and crannies, unique buildings, and just… everything. It's all built with care, whimsy, and zero regard for your computer's processing power, and brought to life by little pop-up events that appear on certain days/times. There's nothing like scavenging for collectibles only to stumble into a bazaar or astronomy club meeting. ✅ Workshop Support + Cheat Codes. There's a full suite of cheat codes, and already 650+ modpacks in the workshop. I haven't used any yet, but appreciate that the studio fully supports and encourages this. What Doesn't Work For Me 🟥 Autonomy. Paras will drop everything to go to work, but require babysitting otherwise. Idle paras randomly do push-ups or play on their phones, which feels stale. 🟥 Basic Issues. Many features, items, etc. are marked with an "Early Access!" disclaimer because they don't exist yet. This is great. However , there's some basic functions and QoL features that are not marked "EA" but feel like they should be baked in. For example: You can't store leftover food in the fridge. Every entry-level job seems to have the same base pay regardless of hours, and every restaurant meal is $20. There's no auto-fast-forward when paras are sleeping or working. Paras can talk across acres, but can't eat while watching TV. You can't lock doors. 🟥 Bugs. It's an ambitious indie project; of course there's bugs. I haven't encountered anything game-breaking, but have had my share of frustrations. Paras stand inside the fridge while snacking. Pathing is janky. Mirrors are cursed. If you visit a restaurant, dirty dishes accumulate there until your neat-freak para returns to clean them up. If you stop cooking mid-dish, it lives on your stove until the heat-death of the universe. There's a naked guy named Charlie. My roommate scoots around in a ghost-chair. It's all extra flavor. 🟥 Character Models. I'm all for diverse body shapes and healthy positivity, but the line art is kinda off-putting. My self-insert turned out appropriately goblin-esque, but creating a supermodel was a struggle . Why must muscles look so harsh and masculine? Why does cleavage have that extra skin line? Why the All Might-ish thigh definition? I'm not even gonna address how creepy toddlers look, or how clothing meshes make kids look prematurely well-endowed. 🟥 Together Cards. These RNG-driven "cards" drive interactions, but quickly feel repetitive and limiting. I'd like more variety or control. Final Thoughts + Recommendation In 2000, my childhood nemesis/cousin popped The Sims into Mom's desktop and, for the first time in our lives, we stopped trying to kill each other. I went on to invest thousands of hours and hundreds of dollars in the franchise, only for my enthusiasm to fizzle out 23 years later when For Rent corrupted a years-old save file. I've been searching for a new life sim ever since, but Maxis/EA has always cornered the market. Paralives is not The Sims . It doesn't have hundreds of experienced employees behind it, or shareholders, or monetized custom content. What it does have is the same DNA and enthusiasm that made the original Sims so fantastic, plus a small studio that wants to make the best life sim possible… and reportedly earned enough from initial sales to continue running for years to come. It's not perfect. It's far from finished. Live mode is the weakest aspect. But what exists is impressive for the project scope and team size, especially after only seven years of development, and I am having so much fun with it. I love what's here, and can't wait to see what comes next. I do not recommend the current version if you're looking for a polished, simulation-heavy contender to or clone of The Sims . But I do highly recommend it if you enjoy general life sims, building and decorating, and/or want to support a small studio with big yet achievable dreams. Even in Early Access, swarming with bugs and incomplete systems, this is beautiful and exactly the kind of passion project we life-sim lovers deserve. Follow [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45365863/]Eekz Today for more crafting, life sim, management, strategy, and story-rich recommendations. Check out [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]IndieGems for more detailed reviews and the best of indie gaming, or subscribe on [url=https://www.youtube.com/@IndieGems2]YouTube !
Been playing life sim games since before there were life sims - the SimLife era of simulation games. I went in to Paralives with zero expectations beyond my own disappointment with Sims 4 when it launched that caused me to drop it, and a lingering yearning for the past decades for a life sim game to goof around in. Heard about this a few weeks ahead of early access from a friend and here I am. The Pros: The art style is lovely, the depth to the build system and character customizer. Color wheels, texture swaps, resizing, free build, snap. You can really get lost just in the build system. The open-world town is gorgeous with tons to explore. The stardew valley esque projects in the city center, the little tasks and contracts and side quests you can pick up. The socializing system is fantastic and feels so much more organic, and the storyteller system is a blast with tremendous customization. I am very excited to be able to build our own towns eventually. But also the mystery and story that is definitely being setup in the dark corners of Paralives default town. The mod support and free post-patch support? Also fantastic. The Neutral: It is a *different* art style then what folks maybe accustomed to, particularly for your little simulation beans. There are a lot of good bones to the rank, skill and job system where you can see what's being built and where they're going with it. But if you're coming from Sims 4 or something similar with a team of hundreds and a decade+ of new gameplay loops, temper your expectations - the core gameplay is there, if bare bones and a bit buggy. Theres' a LOT still to come. The Cons: If you are huge on the constant cartoon wacky hijinks of the Sims 4 era, it may not mama the mia for you. That is not to say it is mega-serious, it has a lovely whimsy to it and some very silly options. But it is a little less of the corporate "lol so random my fellow kids" that I personally found painfully unlikable. If supernatural gameplay and space aliens are a must-have for you, you will need to wait for mods. I do think folks need to pay close attention to the fact that this is a indie game from a small team, with two years of planned early access. There's going to be bugs, incomplete features, content still to come, ect. If that isn't your cup of tea (particularly Day 1 early access levels of hiccups) don't pick up the game yet. Stick on a wishlist, wait for 1.0.0, check it out then. Personally I am really enjoying the game even just at this early stages and I am beyond excited for the progress to come, so I am very pleased with my purchase and I am happy to recommend Paralives for anyone else looking for a really solid life simulation.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Paralives is currently priced at 31.19€ on Steam.
Yes, Paralives is currently available at a 20% discount. You can purchase it for 31.19€ on Steam.
Yes, Paralives received 17,985 positive votes out of a total of 20,208 achieving a rating of 8.70.
😎
Paralives was developed by Alex Massé and team and published by Paralives Studio.
Yes, Paralives is playable and fully supported on Windows.
Yes, Paralives is playable and fully supported on MacOS.
No, Paralives is not playable on Linux.
No, Paralives is not playable on Steam Deck.
This information about Paralives is not available yet.
No, Paralives does not support VR.
Paralives is a single-player game.
No, Paralives does not currently offer any DLC.
Yes, Paralives is fully integrated with Steam Workshop. Visit Steam Workshop.
No, Paralives does not support Steam Remote Play.
Yes, Paralives is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Paralives.
Data sources
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Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 23 September 2026 22:36 UTC |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 01 October 2026 04:43 UTC |
| Steam price | 10 October 2026 18:34 UTC |
| Steam reviews | 08 October 2026 06:11 UTC |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Paralives, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Paralives
- SteamCharts - Analysis of Paralives concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Paralives compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
1,603
Developer
Alex Massé and team
Publisher
Paralives Studio
Release
25 May 2026
Platforms