Ever since Will Wright and his team at Maxis released the first The Sims game in the year 2000, it has dominated and comfortably monopolises the life simulation genre with minimal competition. The Sims 4 was released in 2014 and so far, there have been no signs of a fifth entry to the franchise. With that being said, The Sims 4 is still making EA a lot of ‘simoleons’ as it is still receiving new expansions with the most recent being released on March 16. To date, The Sims 4 has 13 expansion packs, 12 game packs, 18 stuff packs and 19 kits.
There have been one or two competitors over the years but none have had the longevity or deep pockets to keep the franchise going. However, that is not to say other developers aren’t trying, there is Paralives by Paralives Studio and the recently announced Life by You by Paradox Tectonic.
Similar to the Sims, Life by You will allow you to design and live out the lives of your virtual avatar and their family and friends in an open world where everything is customisable. What sets Life by You and the Sims apart is that it will feature real language conversations instead of a made-up language like ‘Simlish’ and you will be able to switch from a third-person view to direct control gameplay, letting you connect with your virtual loved ones on an emotional level.
Life by You's character creator seems very similar to most other character creators. | Paradox Interactive
Instead of just using emotes, you will be able to choose a proper response in conversations. | Paradox Interactive
If that isn't good enough, you can actually even create your very own responses. | Paradox Interactive
Life by You brings back a feature that Sims fans loved in the Sims 3. | Paradox Interactive
Decorating looks like it will be extremely familiar if you have played the Sims. | Paradox Interactive
The same goes for building, although it seems like it might be a bit more advanced. | Paradox Interactive
Furthermore, the game will feature a wide variety of Creator Tools and Editors that will allow you to tweak every aspect of your experience, giving you the ability to live life to the fullest–or break the rules, as you see fit.
While it is definitely exciting to see a new player enter the fold, it will take a lot more for the game to actually pull die-hard Sims fans over to its camp. What was announced seems promising but if the gameplay is too similar to The Sims with no major deviations and if the Creator Tools and Editors aren’t all they are hyped up to be, I doubt players will flock to this new game.
Bear in mind that The Sims 4 has a wealth of official content to keep players extremely busy and entertained and also has an active modding community that produces incredibly high-quality content for players who just want that little bit more. But I guess we will just have to wait and see if Life by You, has what it takes to build an empire of its own.
Life by You will be available in Early Access on September 12 and can also be pre-ordered on the Epic Games Store or added to your wishlist on Steam.
