Life by You has been announced today by one of our favourite publishers, Paradox Interactive. This title is a life simulator, set in an open world which boasts no loading screens and the ability to customise nearly everything. Having this kind of intricate people management from the folks who brought you Cities Skylines and the Surviving series looks to have a little way to go, but it’s looking good from what we’ve seen today.
https://youtu.be/U9c3WEYTJIU
Life By You aims to hit early access on PC (through Steam or Epic) on September 12th this year, with a rough retail price of £39.99, $39.99 and €39,99. This one is set to be a completely open world, with customisation options for darn near everything. You’ll build a home, and design a life for your humans, building bridges on an emotional level.
Paradox Tectonic have built this around their core philosophy, “we create the games, you create the stories”. From what we’ve seen this one isn’t not the Sims, but it looks like it might be a worthy competitor against EA’s juggernaut life-management sim. With promises of no loading screens, it’s certainly going to hit hard for gamers looking for a more open experience. With the ability to bike or drive through the countryside, you can also find quests and unlock new experiences.
Designing our world is a peak experience in other titles. Paradox promises that we’ll not only be able to design our own dream homes, but even businesses (entirely from scratch!). Paired with the ability to drag around, demolish and rearrange entire towns, Paradox have really gone with the concept of “go big or go home”. More than this, the studio lead for the project has been teased as Rod Humble. While it may not be a well-known household name, Rod has significant experience, having taken responsibility as Executive Vice President and Head of The Sims Label the Sims 2 and the Sims 3, while working the EA.
Players will also be able to create their own in-game content using mods and a variety of creator tools. While it’s not been openly said, players being able to “break the rules” and “change the gameplay anytime” seem to hint at really allowing players to create a world in any way they want.
You’ll have direct control of your humans, able to drag and drop them in place or drive them directly in third-person mode. More than this, you can have only one human, or live the stories of many, chasing a career, chasing love and even raising a family. You’ll do this using real language conversations, and will even be able to craft your own conversations while in game.
It’s not hitting early access for some time as yet, and there’s currently no mention of release for any platforms other than PC via Steam and the Epic Games store. While we don’t have much more detail currently, be sure to check out the Life By You website, and keep up with us here at Pixel Bandits as we’ll be bringing you more about the title as we find out. Let us know if this is one you’d like to see on our streams, and we’ll be doing our best to bring you a preview of Life By You later in the year.
