Brought to life by The Sims veteran Rod Humble, Life By You is the latest life simulation game to excite players. Developed by Paradox Tectonic, Life By You is centered on a customizable virtual world filled with what players see fit. Whether that’s a focus on narrative storytelling, modding, or building, the game hinges on the unlimited power of its player’s imaginations.
Players will be able to play the game in Early Access this September, but it’s still a long way until the full release of Life By You. But thankfully, its developers have given a deep dive into what players can expect from the game.
6 Open Exploration
One of the major talking points from the trailer and the announcement event was Life By You is set in a completely open world. No rabbit holes exist, and the humans living within neighborhoods and towns can travel anywhere they want on the map. And with such a big world to explore, players will have countless opportunities to find collectibles like treasure troves and archeological dig sites, as Humble hinted at during the event.
Players will also be able to direct their humans on quests, most likely involving to-do list-like interactions like planting seeds or completing a certain amount of work tasks in a given day.
5 Free-Reign Customization
In addition to an open world, Life By You will provide creative freedom to players through its customization system. Gone are swatches when picking an item from the build/buy catalog, as players can directly manipulate the color and look of objects and clothing through a color wheel – a classic feature in The Sims 3. While not explicitly shown in the announcement event or the official trailer, this customization will likely be available for wallpaper, flooring, and vehicles.
Customization isn’t just cosmetic in Life By You. Players can also directly edit how humans talk to each other, their career paths, and the skills they can learn. Humble told PCGamesN back in 2020 that Life By You is the “deepest game [he’s] ever worked on,” and judging by the variety of ways in which players can customize things on a surface level, that’s an understatement.
4 Ability To Use Developer Tools
The unique selling point of Life By You is that players will have access to all the tools developers use to make the game. While not all of them were covered in the announcement event, the first official trailer briefly mentions the ability to directly edit events, conversations, objects, careers, skills, traits, crafting, collectibles, and more.
Players will be able to cater their worlds in Life By You to their exact standards, even down to changing the function of an object. As shown in the event, the object editor enables players to change the price and name of an object, as well as who can use it.
3 Balanced Relationship Between Developers And Players
Paradox made it clear during the announcement event that they’re seeking a robust and balanced relationship with its player base. Therefore, in order to make Life By You a game catered to its players, the developers are providing an Early Access stage to receive direct feedback and suggestions to make the game the best it can be.
According to the FAQ page on Paradox’s website, the developers plan for Life By You to be in this phase for at least a year. While it won’t have “all the content and features” that the game will have at launch, those playing Life By You in Early Access will receive the full version of the game when it officially releases.
2 Play Anyone, Anytime
Like any life simulation game, players can create their own characters and families to play in Life By You. They can also take over the lives of pre-made characters, but the major difference with this game is that players can take control of them instantaneously. So if a player were to see an NPC walking past the person they’re already controlling, they can click on them and immediately take control.
No loading screens are involved, and players will automatically pick up with whatever is going on in their lives, including any skills they’ve built, relationships they have, and other aspects of their lives, like their home or career.
1 Make And Tell Stories To Share With The Community
The development tools provided by Paradox in Life By You enable players to create their own stories, objects, and other mechanics that they can share with the community. Through Early Access and communicating with the players, Paradox is encouraging this mode of playstyle so that every copy of Life By You is uniquely tailored to whoever is playing it.
As it’s still early days for Life By You, it’s not clear how uploading and downloading modded content to share will work. But it will most likely be integrated within the game, whether that’s a Sims-like gallery or a community page where players can interact and share with one another.
Life By You is in development for PC and enters Early Access on September 12.