From solo project to Early Access
Paralives began in early 2019 when Alex left his job to prototype a life simulation game focused on building tools. What started as a one-person project grew into a full studio over seven years of open development, with monthly progress updates shared through social media, Patreon, and the official website. The team ran sixteen public community brainstorming sessions on topics from relationships and aging to pets and weather, using player input to shape the game's design. Paralives reached one million Steam wishlists before its Early Access launch on May 25, 2026, and within five weeks held a 91% positive review rating from over 17,000 players.
What's in the Early Access build
The current release includes three core modes. Live mode features an open world town with a day-night cycle, careers with progression, personality traits, emotions, wants, skills, needs, social interactions, relationship development, cooking, house fires, bills, children, aging and death, character autonomy, shops and restaurants, a museum with collections, and modding support. Build mode offers a color wheel for everything, wall placement at any angle including curves, split-level platforms, multiple floors, object resizing, stairs, roofs, and fences. The Paramaker character creator provides a height slider, body and face sliders, tattoo placement, clothing layering with tuck-in options, asymmetry for eyes and accessories, a genetics system, and multiple outfit management.
What's planned during Early Access
The development roadmap lists several systems still to come. Planned additions include weather and seasons, a calendar, a family tree, dogs, cats and horses, cars and bikes, boats and houseboats, swimming, NPC story progression, gardening and fishing, social events such as parties and weddings, phone calls and online chat, town editing tools, pools, advanced roof and stairs tools, and basement tools.
Recent patches
Since launch, the team has shipped regular updates. Patch 0.1.5 reduced save file sizes from around 500 MB to 30 MB, added Steam Cloud sync and rolling autosaves that keep three versions per save, and introduced in-game appearance editing through mirrors and the hospital. It also brought custom image support for mugs, rugs, skateboards, curtains, cushions, and flags, along with fixes for fires, bills, and relationship interactions.