Upcoming Life Simulation Games

Highlights

New challengers in the life simulation genre are emerging, with promising games like Paralives, Witchbrook, and Life By You.
These upcoming titles offer unique features like freeform house construction, detailed simulation, and open-world gameplay without loading screens.
The Sims 5, also known as Project Rene, is adapting to new trends with cross-platform support.

Since the incredible success of The Sims in the early 2000s, this game series has reigned over the entire genre of life simulation. Except for Nintendo's Animal Crossing, few studios have tried to challenge Maxis' best-selling series. In the last few years, small and small-ish studios have created plenty of spins on the genre while making sure not to challenge The Sims directly.

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But things are about to change. A handful of projects, including two from major, well-known studios, seem to be challenging EA's life sim series on its own ground. Life By You and inZOI make it plenty clear from their trailers to their feature list. Fans of the genre have played other great life simulation games before, but those two might be the first proper Sims-like titles. It remains to be seen whether they will manage to dethrone The Sims as the king of the genre, but the fact they pose a challenge at all is already a victory.

1 Paralives

Releases In 2025

Genre: Life Simulator
Developer: Alex Massé And Team, Paralives Studio

Paralives is an upcoming indie life sim game developed by quite a small team. Directly comparing this project to the upcoming The Sims 5 or previous titles in the series would likely reveal a lack of content in the former. But this comparison is hardly fair: Paralives isn't trying to compete head-to-head with its inspiration but instead boasts cartoony graphics, freeform house construction, and a bunch of quality-of-life improvements.

What will likely help the studio with the possible lack of content is mod support, which has already been confirmed to use Steam Workshop. Still, the base game of Paralives will come packaged with the genre's usual features: character creation, mechanics to simulate career, friendship, and love, and some ways to automate the Parafolks' lives. And while not much is known about those upcoming titles' minimum requirements, Paralives will likely be one of the more lightweight options.

2 Witchbrook

No Release Date Yet

Genre: Life Simulator, Social RPG
Developer: Chucklefish

Witchbrook looks a lot less like The Sims and a lot more like the old social MMO Habbo. That said, the game is developed by Chucklefish, a studio known for its charming pixel art and designs, and Witchbrook seems to be shaping up to be just that. In what the studio calls a "social RPG," players take the role of a new magical student in the witchy town of Witchbrook.

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Witchbrook might not look like a traditional life sim, but its influences are clear. Detailed simulation, friendship and love, even a career of sorts: all those things scream "The Sims." If this will be a real challenger to EA's classic life simulator series, time will tell. Still, The Sims fans might want to keep an eye on this small-scale game.

3 Life By You

Releases In Early Access On June 4, 2024

Genre: Life Simulator
Developer: Paradox Interactive

Life By You is Paradox Interactive's surprising foray into the life simulation genre. The studio isn't a stranger to simulation, but in Paradox's best games, the context is usually something like the politics of medieval Europe or the Western Front during the Great War. Still, Paradox's first attempt at life sim games seems very promising indeed.

According to the developer, the game will be quite impressive, at least on the technical side. Life By You will have an open world without loading screens, and conversations will be comprehensible. This means the studio will forgo the old ways and avoid using a made-up language like Simlish. The game will also be easy to modify, featuring an in-game modding tool that seems to be very user-friendly.

4 inZOI

Releases In Late 2024

Genre: Life Simulator
Developer: KRAFTON

inZOI is a life sim from the studio behind PUBG, although the game is barely mentioned on the studio's website. inZOI was announced at G-STAR 2023, a large video game industry even in South Korea, but official information about the upcoming title seems to rarely leave the country. The result is that fans don't know much about this highly anticipated, extremely popular Sims competitor.

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What fans know about the game comes from its trailers, which make it look quite promising, and an interview with the game's producer, Jkun. For one, it seems like inZOI will demand next-gen hardware if it is to look as detailed as it does in the trailers. It also seems like the game will have a curious metanarrative about being a god, or perhaps in the employment of a god, which might actually be a cat. It's the players' job, then, to take care of the game's citizens and make their lives interesting.

5 Project Rene – The Sims 5

No Release Date Yet

building a room in Project Rene - The Sims 5, with the caption "all footage is work in progress"

Genre: Life Simulator
Developer: Maxis

Project Rene is the working title of the upcoming The Sims 5. The game is supposed to be a big step for the studio. According to the developers, the name Rene signifies the rebirth of the series, and the game boosts some noticeable differences from the series' past. For one, furniture doesn't seem to snap to predetermined points but can be freely placed wherever there is enough space.

Project Rene will also have cross-platform support. This could be a significant advantage, especially considering most of its competitors haven't announced if they're going multiplatform yet. The next Sims will be free-to-play on both mobile and PC and will most likely feature optional paid content packs. This is the formula implemented by The Sims 4 since the base game became free in October 2022, but the series has always had plenty of DLCs and expansions ready to buy.