For a long time,The Simshas been the biggest life simulation game out there. But as more expansion packs are released forThe Sims 4, other developers are creating alternatives to the kingpin of life sims. First,Paralivescame to the table, and now there’sLife By You. Developed by Paradox Interactive and with Rod Humble, the lead developer onThe Sims 2andThe Sims 3, at its helm,Life By Youpromisesto be a direct competitortoThe Sims.
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Taking on a well-established franchise likeThe Simsis no easy feat for any company, but Paradox has a strong reputation among strategy fans, and there are a handful of ways that they can draw the attention of lifelongSimsplayers.
6Launch With A Complete Lifespan
To avoid repeating the mistakes made whenThe Sims 4launched without toddlers, it would be beneficial forLife By Youto launch with all life states available for players to experience. And judging by what wasshown by Paradox Interactive in the announcement eventon March 20,Life By Youwill include six life stages: babies, toddlers, children, teenagers, adults, and elders.
While the development team has yet to share more detail about what players can expectfrom these lifespans compared toThe Sims 4, Humble describedLife By Youas the “deepest game I’ve ever worked on"during an interview with PCGamesN in 2020– so players can expect deep gameplay mechanics in this regard, too.
5Different Types Of Transport
Despite having vehicles inThe Sims 2andThe Sims 3,usable cars have yet to appear inThe Sims 4. The teaser trailer forLife By Youproved the game would improve upon this mechanic right off the bat, showcasing that humans can not only travel around their neighborhood in cars but also use public transport. This feature certainly feels influenced byCities: Skylines,much like the connection betweenThe Sims 2andSim City 4.
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Modes of transport were expanded upon during the announcement event, where it was revealed that humans can travel by other means that have never been featured inThe Simsfranchise before, including skateboards, motorbikes, and mopeds.
4Less Paid-For Content
As nice as it is forThe Simsfranchise to build upon its base games by adding new features with expansion packs, the amount of packs being pushed across each series has become exhausting.The Simsfinished its lifespan with only eight expansion packs. In comparison,The Sims 4currently has thirteen expansion packs, twelve game packs, eighteen stuff packs, and nineteen kits. That’s an extortionate amount of money for players to pay for basic gameplay mechanics like improved social dynamics, weather, and pets thatplayers would expect to find inThe Sims 4base game.
While pre-order bonuses were advertised at the end ofLife By You’sannouncement event, which included the ability to use a moped, hopefully, expansions will be geared more towards aesthetic and cosmetic choices rather than mechanics that should be either included in the base game or provided via a free patch or update – much like EA ended up doing withtoddlers and swimming pools inThe Sims 4.
3More Encouragement For Mods
Mods have always been heavily tied toThe Simsfranchise, but they were encouraged and supported more back in the days ofThe Sims 2as opposed to now. In contrast, Humble has said that Paradox is all about “creativity and openness” and that they want to make games “that respect the intelligence of the audience, which also embraces mods.”
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Humble expanded upon this further during the announcement event, adding that “there should be no barriers and no friction between the kind of game you want to play and the kind of world you want to create,” describingLife By Youas “one of the most moddable and open life sims” out there.
2Being Set In An Open World
A major criticism ofThe Sims 4since its release has been the return of loading screens. Despitecommunity-made mods inThe Sims 4that can turn the game into an open world, nothing can replicate whatThe Sims 3initially provided. But by taking a step back and reintroducing loading screens, it takes away some of the immersion players have when experiencing the life simulator – particularly when moving between individual lots next to each other.
But forLife By You, the aspect of an open world has been there since the start of development. AsHumble summarized during the announcement of the game, their decision to makeLife By Youwith an open world was “because life doesn’t have any loading screens, and we didn’t want any loading screens either”.
1Deeper Mechanics & Gameplay
WhenLife By Youhad yet to be announced, Humble promised that the as-yet-revealed game would be built upon deep gameplay mechanics, much like what was introduced inThe Sims 2andThe Sims 3– both games that he worked on. “I really wanted to add a large amount of gameplay to the subject and the genre I’m approaching,“he explained to PCGamesN. “My hope is that people play with the mechanics, and the further they dig, they’ll uncover more mechanics.”
Paradox gave insight into what these “deeper mechanics” will look like during theLife By Youannouncement event, including the ability to instantaneously control any NPC. “All of their memories, their relationships, their loves, their hates, their possessions: all of it is stored, and they’re playing the same rules as you are,” Humble revealed.
Life by Youis in development for PC and enters Early Access on September 12.
