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Looking for something like The Sims but not from EA? Paralives arrives May 25th and there's a brand new trailer, along with 45 minutes of gameplay. They must be somewhat confident in it if they're willing to show this much off before the release. Although, it will be in Early Access so to keep expectations in check it's not a finished game.

One thing that will set it apart from The Sims is their firm stance on zero paid DLC. They said "we have pledged to never release paid DLCs: there will only ever be free updates". It will be interesting to see how it does compared with inZOI from KRAFTON.

First up is the new trailer:

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And then a further video with 45 minutes gameplay:

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Game Highlights:

  • Explore an open-world town filled with shops, parks, restaurants and museums.
  • Create Parafolks of all looks and styles.
  • Find a job and try out flexible career progression paths.
  • Discover unique personality traits, skills, wants, needs and emotions.
  • Find love and make friends, or enemies.
  • Multiselect Parafolks and do anything as a group.
  • Grow up, have children and live a long life.
  • Enjoy the customization and flexibility of our house-building tools.
  • Experiment with our in-game modding interface to edit or add content to the game.
  • Find community-made mods, houses and Parafolks through the Steam Workshop.

They've said that during Early Access they plan to add in weather and seasons, more animals, cars and bikes, boats, pools and swimming, story progression for NPCs and lots more.

Release Date: 25th May 2026
Platform: ⚛ Proton / Wine
Official links:Steam
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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3 comments

Szkodnix 4 hours ago
That's interesting. I'll definitely buy it.
scaine 13 years 2 hours ago
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Surely paid DLC isn't inherently evil to the extent they're making out! Even a smidgen of paid DLC, covering the cost of a successful launch, would still differentiate them from the likes of Krafton (urgh) and EA (Uuuuuurgh).

Last edited by scaine on 20 May 2026 at 2:33 pm UTC
Kimyrielle 2 hours ago
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I got inZOI and completely love it. I was never a big fan of The Sims moving towards their overly cartoony artstyle in 4, and inZOI is so realistic that you sometimes forget it's just a game. It still has its quirks and some things are still missing, but they're churning out updates at an incredible pace. Its using AI, so that might be a dealbreaker for some.

I am curious how Paralives will hold up against it. It will probably find an audience, too. I can't quite understand how they're going to fund continued development of the game without any paid DLCs, though. EA (as usual) completely overdid monetization, but you need to pay the developers somehow.
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