Paradox Interactive recently released a trailer for Life by You, a game set to compete with EA’s popular franchise, The Sims. The trailer confirms that the game revolves around an open-world concept.
This upcoming life simulation game is being developed by Paradox Tectonic and helmed by the general manager Rod Humble. He is a former CEO of Linden Labs — the studio responsible for Second Life — and has previously worked on The Sims 2 and The Sims 3.
“Life by You evolves the life simulation genre with modern style, real language conversation, and unprecedented freedom of expression,” Humble said.
“Life by You evolves the life simulation genre with modern style, real language conversation, and unprecedented freedom of expression.”
Rod Humble, general manager at Paradox Tectonic
In Life by You, players can experience life without interruptions from loading screens. They can engage in genuine conversations using actual language, travel to the countryside by car or bike and unveil and fulfill quests to unlock new experiences.
Paradox Interactive CEO Fredrik Wester expressed his enthusiasm for Life by You, saying that the game aligns well with the company’s philosophy.
He hopes Life by You will connect people to their own life or allows them to explore various fantasy universes. Wester said the company was “thrilled to be entering the life sim genre.”
“Paradox Tectonic’s vision for this game fits naturally with our wider philosophy of ‘we create the games, you create the stories'”
Fredrik Wester, CEO of Paradox Interactive
Key features
The game aims to foster players’ creativity by allowing them to produce their own in-game content using mods and a wide range of Creator Tools. They can adjust the gameplay per their preferences at any time.
Players are granted complete control of their human characters with a simple drag-and-drop interface or by driving them in third-person view. They can act as a single character or describe the exploits of several different ones. Building career advancement, romantic relationships, and starting a family are all possible in this game.
Players can convey stories through customized in-game conversations — each created based on the specific circumstances of the player’s human character.
They will be able to create their very own world by constructing their human characters’ ideal homes or businesses from the ground up. Then, players can furnish these structures from the inside out and rearrange or demolish an entire town.
With the Human Creator tool, players can create highly personalized human beings by incorporating their families with various personalities and character qualities.
On September 12, the game will be introduced to PC users through Early Access on Steam and the Epic Games Store. However, pre-orders for the game will only be available on the Epic Games Store.
Paradox explained that the company expects the game to be available in Early Access for at least one year. However, that might change as the company “continue to work on development and receive feedback from you, our Early Access players.”
Paradox also revealed that the Epic storefront would offer the game for $39.99, whereas the pricing for Steam will be announced later.
The Sims’ Growing Together expansion
The announcement came at the same time as the release of Growing Together, the latest expansion pack for The Sims 4. The game had its most successful year in 2022, with players spending 1.4 billion hours playing it.
Growing Together was developed to improve the relationship aspect of the game by introducing a social compatibility system that considers the traits, likes and dislikes of a Sim that apply to other Sims — including family members.
