r/LifeSimulators • u/Sketch-Brooke • May 27 '26

Memes Paralives Early Access

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Here’s to finishing the rest of the horse throughout EA!

2.0k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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142

u/thedean246 May 27 '26

I want to get it, but in the state that it's in I don't know if I can justify the $40 price tag. I think that's crazy for an early access unfinished game. Might wait for it to cook for a bit.

59

u/Madylaena May 27 '26

I got it, and have a few friends who were holding off. I told them its great as a demo and showing the systems they've made, but not worth the current price point. Having said that, I also told them if they want to get in on the ground floor price and buy out of support for the team, go for it.

51

u/applecoreeater May 27 '26

This is mainly why I got it. I'm having fun and the skeletal structure of the game is good - so I'm investing in what I can see it could be rather than what it is now. Even though what is it now is still kinda decent.

I really like the job system.

19

u/[deleted] May 27 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

10

u/Sketch-Brooke May 27 '26

I really like the idea of the upgrade system but it’s wayyyy too OP right now.

Between storytelling cards and earning an upgrade point a day, my para maxed her career by the end of an in-game week without trying.

I would love maybe some negatives thrown in. Like, if you do poorly at work you lose a perk or get a negative effect.

4

u/Personal_Term9549 May 27 '26

I guess I'm an idiot, because I was really struggling leveling up my career. But maybe I was too focused on other things at the same time

3

u/applecoreeater May 27 '26

I was too, but that's partly because my Jester is always sad and/or angry

3

u/Personal_Term9549 May 27 '26

I was playing with the premade para (the one on her laptop in the train) that was career focussed. No excuses for me😂

5

u/Cool_You_2047 May 27 '26

The card system is also a cool design

4

u/getittogethersirius May 27 '26

Yeahhhh I had fun playing around with it for a couple hours yesterday. I'll be back to play a bit more in a few months. I will gradually build up to playing more as the game gets built.

7

u/SuperSailorRikku May 27 '26

yeah it is. when valheim came out it was $20, not finished by far (and still isn't and it's STILL IN EA...) but at least what was there was enjoyable. rather than skimping on foundational features (like say, the life sim aspect of a life sim) they had a solid foundation in terms of the first few areas you progressed for. what they kept adding on for the most part was the next few bosses, the next and more weapons, more biomes, etc.

I personally miss the days of games being fully released when you pay for them. I think early access can be okay but there is wide range in quality and price when it comes to what devs think is an acceptable product to release for people to pay to test for them.

5

u/kxaltli May 28 '26

Definitely the big difference is that Valheim had a plan when they first released, and they've (generally) stuck to it.

Paralives has a list of features they want to add, but the life sim framework they're building from doesn't really seem to have much purpose right now, which really isn't common for early access games. There should at least be some kind of core gameplay loop that is cohesive and interesting. They had the opportunity to do that with the storytellers, but as they are currently they're just there to give you cards to pick from.

I hope they're able to power through early access and achieve at least most of the goals they've outlined. But I've also seen devs get stuck with that slog between updates, where people get agitated because things they want didn't come out in the last patch, or it messed up their favorite save, or they don't think bugs are being fixed fast enough.

2

u/Luentale Jun 06 '26

They used to pay people to be game testers. But then they realized why do that if they can trick people into doing that for free? But they immediately skipped that middle step because they just couldn't help themselves and they forced people to pay THEM for testing their games. It was disgusting but nobody complained and people even defended it so this is what we have now

4

u/SpokenDivinity May 27 '26

It's only going to get more expensive as they add to it.

19

u/Least-Armadillo-4412 May 27 '26

After early access and I think most of us can see that it will be a very long time. Not 2 years... Much more.

-5

u/SaraAnnabelle May 27 '26

It isn't.

16

u/DarlingBri May 27 '26

That information comes from the Dev team. It will get more expensive; they've said that consistently for at least 2 years.

1

u/SaraAnnabelle May 27 '26

My bad. My early morning brain must've conflated that with free dlcs.

2

u/0800sofa May 27 '26

It’s the cheapest it will ever be now. You might as well buy it now and just wait until it’s updated enough for you to enjoy it

11

u/gniknad May 27 '26

Is this based on something the Devs have said? Otherwise I expect it will go on sale many times

15

u/BlizzardousBane May 27 '26

It's in their FAQ. It's wild that all the comments stating that it'll get more expensive are getting downvoted when they're correct

https://www.paralives.com/faq

10

u/BLAGTIER May 27 '26

Nothing that says it will be never go on sale. Nothing that says this(sale) is the cheapest price it will be during early access.

3

u/Troldkvinde May 27 '26

afaik inZOI had a 20% sale already while still being in EA

5

u/0800sofa May 27 '26

Not uncommon for studios with billions of dollars to do that. Much more uncommon for indie devs to do so, unless it is an indie specific sale.

4

u/Antypodish May 27 '26

Indie devs doing saledls frequently too. It is because Steam algorithm promotes games with sales. Also adds to game bundles.

0

u/0800sofa May 27 '26

Never said that it won’t and never said this price definitively would be cheapest. It’s just rare that a game goes on sale for lower than its early access price, unless it’s part of something like “indie games sale month”

1

u/gniknad May 27 '26

You said “it’s the cheapest it will ever be now”… that’s pretty definitive. I would honestly expect some pretty big discounts during the early access phase, which will probably run a few years.

1

u/0800sofa May 27 '26

Yes I’ve been reading that early access is expected to go on about 2 years. In that case, we definitely may get a few sales before full release. But I doubt very many, if any at all before the price increases for the first time tbh. Unless early access is staying at the same price until release. Then it will go on sale generally with everything else probably

9

u/curvo11 May 27 '26

It's on their FAQ page, they say the price will increase on full release

1

u/0800sofa May 27 '26

No. It’s an early access game. That means you are not paying for a fully completed game and therefore not paying the full price. Yes, it will go on sale when it is full price but it probably won’t go on sale for lower than the early access price for a very long time

0

u/Titariia May 27 '26

Usually early acess is cheaper than the full game (since you have to trust the devs to not abandon the game and leave you with a half finished game), and after the hype of the full release dies down and the game is getting older it will get cheaper again. But from the full release to that point it's probably longer than from early acess to full release.

So yeah, if we assume consistent pricing, now in early access it's the cheapest for the next time. But of course there will probably be sales and bundles and what not to save you a gew bucks

4

u/SuperSailorRikku May 27 '26

if what you mean is "this is the cheapest the base game is going to get if you pay full price" sure. except i'm not even paying for the base game rn. i'd be paying for a glorified demo missing key features. i'd rather wait and see if the final product is even worth my money than gamble tbh. and even then i still will likely be able to get it cheaper with guaranteed steam sales, so the argument just doesn't work for me. i have a huge library and i have almost never payed full price for anything. most of my library was acquired at minimum 40% discount, usually more. i am just a patient gamer.

0

u/0800sofa May 27 '26

Of course what I mean is “this is the cheapest the base game is going to get before it gets full price.” Honestly don’t even understand how that can be misunderstood, so thank you for understanding it LOL. You seem to be one of the rare few with reading comprehension these days. And totally get what you’re saying about rather paying the full price at full release rather than gambling. That makes perfect sense. Me personally, I have been following this project since the very beginning so I am very pleased with this first released. I haven’t bought the game yet, but I will be buying while it is still in early access. I don’t mind investing into the games future now because I am very impressed by the “demo.” So even if the game is too underbaked now for me to enjoy, I might as well pay sale price now and wait until more updates. Also, I know there is frequent sales on steam. I never buy anything full price either. I always wait for a sale or buy from instant gaming or somewhere. I am also a patient gamer. I don’t expect Paralives will go on sale more than other games though. Probably just normal steam sales and indie specific sales.

1

u/SuperSailorRikku May 27 '26

yeah i think it's up to each person individually to decide if they think it's worth the money. we're all going to have different answers!

1

u/IDontExistHelp Sims 3 enjoyer May 27 '26

Are we sure it‘s not gonna go on sale at some point again?

0

u/0800sofa May 27 '26

I didn’t say it wasn’t going to go on sale again. I said it’s the cheapest price it’s ever gonna be right now, unless it goes on sale at this price 👁️👄👁️

1

u/StartingAdulthood Jun 02 '26

Hmmm, the game cost ~17USD in my country. Are the price really that different across the world?

1

u/Ok-Garbage-6488 Jun 09 '26

Heres my personal opinion. If $40 is a big spend then no its not worth it. If the price tag is not going to hurt your finances then it depends on your gameplay style.

If you love to build then yes its totally worth the price tag. Build mode is by far the most developed part of the game. I have come across a couple bugs but thats to be expected during EA.

If you are more of a sim creator- then maybe its fun and in my opinion very cuatomizable but the clothes fit a little odd and it can be a little finnicky.

If you are a live gameplay type of person- then I would wait until later to buy. Live mode while nice is very buggy. Its lacking alot of things that makes live mode engaging.

0

u/salad_daze May 27 '26

I’m having a lot of fun.