Life by You given Early Access release date

Like everyone born before the turn of the century, I spent a good portion of my time hammering “MOTHERLOAD” into console commands, designing lavish houses, and then drowning people by taking away the ladders to their pools. Depending on what you are looking for, most games don’t go for the full Sims-like idea. For the building aspect, you might opt for a House Flipper or similar, but for the life-sim, you’d be more likely to play Stardew Valley. Both of these are very different games from The Sims, though Paradox Interactive and Paradox Tectonic’s Life by You is aiming to be The Sims to its fullest.

Teased and fully revealed early last year, a delay or two ago, Life by You wants to give you The Sims 2/3 experience that you thought of back in the mid to late 2000s. Now with a deeper character creation (in terms of info), a greater focus on the life-sim gameplay, and a Sims 3-like concept to the builder, including custom colors. Not only that but there are dialogue trees and things to do greater than fast-forwarding through work, it seems. All coming to Early Access next month.

“Paradox Interactive’s highly-anticipated Life Sim game, Life by You, will enter early access on June 4, 2024. Previously slated for March 5, 2024, the additional time has given the team time to put the finishing touches on the visuals for its human characters and to improve gameplay further,” the press release yesterday notes. It continues: “Life by You is a life simulation game with the creative freedom to tell unlimited storytelling possibilities. Players can design and live out the lives of the humans they create in an open-game world where everything is customizable.

Players create their households, build their homes, and tell life’s many stories. With natural language conversation and the ability to switch from third-person to direct control gameplay, players will connect with their characters on an emotional level. The game will come with deep Creator and Editor tools like Character Creator, Object Designer, Language Trees, and more, and all are available to players so they can MOD and adapt the game to fit their story.“

General manager for Paradox Tectonic, Rod Humble, said, “At the core of Life by You is the player community. We’ve created a sandbox where players can tell whatever story they want. From deeply personal, esoteric, or fan fiction, they can live life to the fullest – or break the rules as they see fit!“

Highlighting key features, the press release notes: “[players can] Tell rich stories: This world is your sandbox. Create your humans, or play anyone within it – swap control at any time with any character you encounter. You can climb a career ladder, choose to be a misfit, fall in love as often as you change your clothes, or explore your sexuality. Tell stories that are important to you.”

“Explore and discover an open world: Drive, bike, scoot, or walk to get around the world. Along the way, collect seashells, wildflowers, and gems. Strike up real-language conversations with any human in-game.

Empower creativity with deep creative tools: Use extensive Creator and Editor Tools to change the gameplay anytime. Tailor build a world to play in or share your creations on the Paradox Mods [sic].“

Then finally, “Build and fully customize humans and environments: Design a dream home from scratch or renovate existing buildings. Customize your human with a fully featured character creator, including deep personality and character traits.“

I have been excited about Life by You since we first saw it last March, joining a small collection of Sims-likes on my wishlists. You can do it either on Steam or the Epic Games Store ahead of the Early Access release on the 4th of June. I’m excited to see if the ambition lives up to expectations, both in Early Access and the eventual full release.