Paralives Debuts as Sims Rival, Surges to 250k in 8 Hours With Adorably Glitchy Early Access

Paralives, a Canadian indie life-sim, launched in early access to strong early traction, selling 250,000 copies in eight hours and earning about 89% positive on Steam. It positions itself as a Sims rival with free updates and no paid DLC, with upcoming features like pets, weather, and horses. Launch week bugs range from teleporting and walking in place to growing stairs and creatures appearing naked in beds, and even babies acting erratically. The developers say fixes and quality-of-life updates are planned for June–September, making Paralives a promising but imperfect competitor to The Sims 4.