Confetti’s Cozy Corner: The Future is Bright For Paralives
Paralives is a love letter to all the gamers who love life sims from developers who center players and who are having fun in their game. Plus, there’s amazing queer representation throughout!
In an era of DLCs, microtransactions, lack of or begrudging representation, Paralives feels like a much needed breath of fresh air.
The game starts off by introducing players to the incredible graphics and an animated scene showing a diverse cast of Paras. And then we begin with the character creator.
The first green flag was the ability to adjust the skin tone from a color wheel. Another green flag are the many textured hair styles, head coverings, and decent tattoo customization. Speaking of textured hairstyles, when a Para has a larger hairstyle, even textured, and you place a hat on their head, the hairstyle adjusts to fit the hat. That is a considerate feature to have, especially when it comes to afro-centric hairstyles and not making the hair bone straight if players characters want to wear a beanie.
Also my Para has EDGES and it’s beautiful! Experiencing a level of detail to customize one’s character was exhilarating, and to an extent exposes the crumbs gamers have come to accept when it comes to life sims as the norm… with additional price tags.Â
There is so much queer representation in Paralives from the very beginning. You can choose the queer Para household, there are an assortment of Pride flags you can use to decorate your spaces, and of course pronoun selection.
I do hope in the future, the selection of Pride flags will be expanded, alongside having Pride items in game like mugs, stationary or even candles! Additionally players can fully customize their bodies to the fine details and do not have to rely on the body types the game provides.
There are many aspects of life represented well such as disability, dietary needs, whether or not they can breastfeed, and the ability to get pregnant or not just to name a few.Â
The art design is a place of contention amongst gamers. It seems that you either like it or you don’t. I personally find the art direction charming, comparing it to a cozy, vibrant version of the Borderlands series art style. There are issues of clipping when it comes to certain clothes, environmental items and longer hair styles, but it’s more than likely that these issues will eventually be ironed out and seamless.Â
When playing life sims, I personally lean more towards building cool homes. It was a worry of mine that I would have to grind a bit to get the funds in order to start building and decorating a home; however, cheat commands are readily available in-game and players do not have to memorize or look up the cheat command that is needed. Naturally my Para became a millionaire at the press of a button!
Building is seamless, and gives a lot of freedom for item placement and customization. You are not restricted to a pre-set grid where furniture can sometimes look awkward in the finished product. The freedom players have in the game is a builder’s dream, and most of my gameplay was sunk into creating fun homes.
Paralives is accessible for all types of players that overall is centered on the experience they take from the game while having fun.
Paralives feel like a breath of fresh air when it comes to life simulators. From its unique art design, flexible build mechanics, and amazing representation, Paralives offers a lot more as a base game in early access than what most life sims of the past have had to offer.
At the 2024 Game Awards, Larian Studios founder and CEO, Swen Vincke, stated: “They knew if you put the game and the team first, the revenue will follow,” when referring to Baldur’s Gate 3 winning Game of the Year. It’s obvious that profit has been the driving force behind certain well known franchises rather than giving players a robust experience where not only they can create themselves in a game that simulates life, but then when that seemingly, begrudgingly happens… more than likely it comes with a price tag.
In the early stages of development, the Paralives team stated via their YouTube that there will be no paid DLCs, and I hope that is a promise that will be kept!Â
Paralives at Early Access does have glitches, some game mechanics are not smooth or intuitive, and overall it has its issues. A game in Early Access should not be expected to be 100% polished or perfect, nevertheless what we are starting out with has created high hopes.
The future is bright for Paralives and it is available in Early Access on Steam for $39.99.Â
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