Join The Club
Life simmers have been chronically bored for years—so much so that asking "how do you keep Sims 4 interesting for yourself?" is a bit of a cliché. My theory is that life sims need to be harder, or at the very least get back in touch with the strategy roots that made The Sims so enticing way back when. I truly thought I was just yelling at clouds, and yet Paralives has just launched into early access and it is, in fact, doing the exact thing I was begging life sims for.
I've been playing The Sims series since about 2001 and if there's one thing I miss about the early games its that they were as much strategy games as sandboxes. I've retreated into Build Mode as an adult and really didn't think a modern life sim could drag me back into Live Mode again.
Before you jump into Live Mode for the first time, Paralives asks you to choose from three default "storytellers," personified figures who hand out nightly gameplay effects, personality upgrades, and pull the strings of the game's difficulty from a laid back experience to a more challenging one.
Unlike The Sims 4, which avoids stepping on my toes in Live Mode so much that it often feels like nothing interesting happens, Paralives just starts with the option for tune-able difficulty. What a concept!
By default, Stella the dog gives new households slightly higher starting funds and ensures that they automatically eat and use the restroom while away at work. The more challenging storyteller Ricardo does not recognize workplace bathroom breaks and also makes the rate of conceiving twins lower. You can also create a custom storyteller to adjust values like the ratio of in-game time to real time, the length of life stages, and the threshold for getting "strikes" at work for poor performance.
They don't play drastically differently right now, but Paralives notes in-game that it plans to expand the storyteller customization options even further, which I'm quite psyched about. I'm hoping to see controls for the rate of broken appliances (currently quite high, honestly) and Paras falling ill, or even controls for things like speed of skill gain and relationship gains.
Diet strategy
Even without using its custom difficulty settings, Paralives has folded the kind of lite strategy gameplay I've been craving into its core experience. Starting with the basics—two Paras talking to one another—I've got to strategically consider how to progress a conversation. Instead of spamming any interaction I want from a radial menu, I have to wait for my Para's conversation meter to fill and then choose one of three interaction cards that are given based on their current mood and the state of their relationship.
While chatting up a new acquaintance, I might have a flirty option to "discuss the best food for a date night" because of my Para's Food talent, but it's only got a 22% chance to succeed, which the menu tells me is a result of five different factors including my Para's traits, our compatible vibes, and the fact that we barely know each other. I look at the time and realize it's already 10 pm and my Para needs to get to bed for work in the morning. So do I risk it for the flirt, possibly taking a mood hit for failing, or play it safe and friendly and try again next time?
Personality trait effects, percentages, and simulated events are all over Live Mode in Paralives. My child Para caught a digestive bug at school (classic) which greyed out his hunger meter and cut his sleep and bladder meters in half, meaning he was constantly low on both, waking up in the middle of the night to potty and unable to fall asleep again. His dad's "good at taking care of others" social perk gave him the option to make some chicken noodle soup, but then he caught the bug (also classic) and they were both laid up at home.
As I've made more households, I keep being delighted with the way that some personality traits and perks nudge the way I need to play each Para. My "energectic" Para has a bonus energy meter that means he's tired less often and can take power naps but when that surplus energy meter is full he feels stressed and is more likely to draw negative interaction cards during conversations. My "good at being alone" Para has a "me time" meter that depletes while with others and refills while alone, making her tense when it's low—relatable. Each of these traits and perks also have the ability to morph with new effects and perks as my Paras complete daily "wants" and level up their personalities.
My Paras moods aren't just for flavor, either. If they're upset enough they'll be locked out of gaining experience for any skill actions they do. Being stressed or flirty or happy will influence the types of interactions they draw as possibilities in each conversation. I've found myself actually considering my Paras' moods as a strategic part of playing.
That's the big win in Paralives. All these little bits of strategy with visible effects and percentages that I can see reflected on my Para's face are genuinely influencing the way I play. It's making sure I always have a challenge to overcome and a motivation to play so I'm never stuck staring at my screen wondering what to do next.
