Roadmap and Planned Features
The Paralives development roadmap spans approximately two years of Early Access starting May 25, 2026. It covers features confirmed for launch, planned EA updates (weather, pets, cars, pools, basements), and post-EA additions, with all updates provided free of charge.
Overview
Paralives is scheduled to enter Steam Early Access on May 25, 2026. The game was originally planned for a December 8, 2025 release, but was delayed after playtest feedback identified impactful bugs in Live Mode and a lack of activities in the town. Lead developer Alex Masse stated that the game was not up to the standard the team wanted it to meet for release. The Early Access period is expected to last approximately two years, culminating in a 1.0 full release, though this timeframe remains subject to change.
All updates and expansions during and after Early Access will be completely free. Paralives will never have paid DLCs. The game is priced at $39.99 USD during Early Access, with the price expected to increase after the full 1.0 launch. Throughout the Early Access period, the development team will release frequent updates to fix bugs, add content, and introduce missing features based on player feedback.
Paramaker Features
The Paramaker is the character creation tool in Paralives. Its features are planned across three development phases.
Confirmed for Early Access Launch
Feature | Details |
|---|---|
Personality customization | Stats, Vibes, Talents, Social Perks, and Lifestyles can all be configured for each Parafolk. |
Physical customization | Hairstyles, a full color wheel for hair and skin, body and face sliders with presets, a height slider, tattoo placement, mole and skin detail placement, and asymmetry options. |
Clothing customization | Gender-neutral outfit equipping, layering and mixing individual clothing pieces, and the ability to save multiple outfits per Parafolk. |
Basic genetics system | A simplified genetics model determining offspring appearance based on dominant and recessive alleles for colors, direct inheritance for facial sliders, and hair texture inheritance. |
Voices | Four Teen, Young Adult, and Adult voices; one Child and Preteen voice; one Toddler voice; and one Baby voice. |
Gender options | Three default genders (Female, Male, Non-Binary) with custom gender features including pregnancy capability toggles independent of gender presentation. |
Planned During Early Access
Additional Vibes, Talents, and Social Perks
More hairstyles and clothing items
Ability to mod Vibes, Talents, Social Perks, Together Cards, and Relationship labels
Pitch sliders for voices
Planned Post-Early Access
Occult character types (vampires and other supernatural beings)
Advanced genetic system with editing tools
Ability to mod animations
Build Mode Features
Build Mode is the construction and decoration tool. Its features are planned across three phases.
Confirmed for Early Access Launch
Feature | Details |
|---|---|
Furniture and objects | A catalog of placeable items with a full color wheel for recoloring everything and the ability to resize objects by pulling corner anchors. |
Flexible wall placement | Walls can be placed freely at any angle, including curved walls, without being locked to a grid. |
Multiple floors | Build across multiple stories with support for stairs and roof placement. |
Stairs and roofs | Basic stair and roof placement tools available at launch. |
Fences | Fence placement for lot boundaries and decorative purposes. |
Split-level platforms | Platforms at different heights within a single floor, creating split-level designs. |
Planned During Early Access
More furniture and objects added through content updates
Optional grid for wall placement
Ability to move existing walls after placement
Advanced roof tools for more complex roof designs
Advanced stair tools with additional staircase options
Basement construction tools
Pools
Planned Post-Early Access
Placing windows and doors on curved walls
Importing rooms from the catalog
Moving whole rooms around
Buildable houseboats
Bunk beds
Live Mode Features
Live Mode is the core gameplay simulation. It has the most extensive feature list across all three development phases.
Confirmed for Early Access Launch
Feature | Details |
|---|---|
Open world town | One continuous open world town with shops, restaurants, parks, and museums. Some buildings function as rabbit holes where Parafolk enter but the interior is not shown. |
Day and night cycle | A customizable day/night cycle that affects lighting, NPC schedules, and available activities. |
Personality and emotions | Basic personality traits, an emotion system, needs (hunger, energy, hygiene, etc.), wants, and skills that develop through activities. |
Social interactions | Context-dependent social interactions using the Together Cards system for conversations and activities between Parafolk. |
Relationships | Relationship development via labels (friend, partner, spouse, etc.) with depth that grows through interactions. |
Multi-select grouping | Players can select multiple Parafolk and assign them to group activities, enabling socializing while performing hobbies. |
Basic hobbies including swimming, gardening, fishing, cooking, painting, playing piano and guitar, dancing, jogging, and gym exercises. | |
Life stages and aging | Eight life stages from Baby to Elder, with aging over time. |
A pregnancy system with configurable gender options and a genetics-based offspring appearance system. | |
Basic autonomy | Player-controlled Parafolk have basic autonomous behavior, making independent decisions when not given direct commands. |
Shops and food | Basic shops around town where Parafolk can purchase premade food and other items, with a discount system. |
Cooking | A basic cooking system (without an ingredients model) where Parafolk can prepare meals at home. |
Bills | A weekly billing system covering lot taxes, electricity, and water usage. |
Dogs, cats, and horses as companion animals. | |
Vehicles | Cars, bikes, and boats for transportation around the open world. |
Deaths | Four initial death types including fire, hunger, and smoke inhalation. |
House fires | Fires can break out in homes, threatening Parafolk and their belongings. |
Planned During Early Access
Feature | Details |
|---|---|
Weather and seasons | Seasonal weather effects that influence gameplay and affect the day/night cycle. |
Career progression | Work through rabbit holes with career advancement. Additional jobs and working from home options to be added. |
More social content | Additional Together Cards, relationship labels, and the ability to call Parafolk on the phone. |
Social events | Organizing parties, weddings, and other gatherings. |
Museum and collections | A museum system where Parafolk can donate collected items found around town. |
Grocery stores | Grocery shopping with a delivery system where packages are delivered straight to the household's inventory. |
NPC improvements | NPCs will meet around town, satisfy their own needs, and cell towers will be added for NPC communication. |
Pet gameplay | Expanded pet interactions and deeper gameplay systems for animal companions. |
Garages and parking | Functional garages and parking spaces for vehicles. |
Non-life-threatening diseases | Illnesses that affect Parafolk without causing death, adding health management gameplay. |
Objects affecting characters | Placed objects can have effects on nearby Parafolk, influencing mood and behavior. |
Additional lots | New town lots with additional functionalities and venues. |
Planned Post-Early Access
Feature | Details |
|---|---|
Town editing and creation tools | Tools for players to edit existing towns and create entirely new ones. |
Calendar | An in-game calendar system for scheduling events and tracking time. |
Family trees | A family tree viewer showing lineage and genetic relationships between Parafolk. |
NPC story progression | Non-player Parafolk will autonomously develop their lives, forming relationships, having children, and progressing in careers without player intervention. |
More death types | Additional causes of death beyond the initial four available at launch. |
Expanded parenting | Deeper parenting gameplay and simple child services system. |
Baby carriers | Portable carriers for transporting babies around the world. |
Library and bookshop | New venue types for reading and purchasing books. |
More store types | Additional retail venues with ordering and delivery systems. |
Modding and Steam Integration
The modding system is a core part of the Paralives experience, with tools built directly into the game and accessible from the main menu.
Feature | Phase | Details |
|---|---|---|
Built-in modding tools | Early Access launch | Official tools for editing existing game content, adding new content, or removing base game content. Accessible from the main menu. |
Steam Workshop | During Early Access | Full Steam Workshop integration for sharing and downloading community-created content and mods. |
Steam achievements | During Early Access | Achievement tracking through Steam's achievement system. |
In-game UI and language customization | During Early Access | Tools for customizing the user interface and language settings. |
Modding guides and tutorials | Post-Early Access | Official documentation and guides for creating mods. |
Features Not Planned
The development team has been transparent about certain features that are not currently part of the roadmap. Any feature not listed in the official planned features list has likely never been mentioned by the developers and should be considered unpromised.
Feature | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Script mods | Not planned | The official modding tools do not support scripting to create new features. The team is considering adding script mod support at a later date but has made no commitment. |
Console and mobile versions | Not planned | The game is PC and Mac only. No console or mobile versions are planned. |
Controller support | Not planned | Keyboard and mouse are the only supported input method. |
Multiplayer | Not planned | Paralives is a single-player game. No internet connection is required to play. |
Mature content | Not planned | The game targets a Teen rating and excludes drugs, murder, sexual violence, pornography, and gore. |
Occult and supernatural content (vampires, werewolves, etc.) is planned for post-Early Access but will not be available at launch. The team teased occult possibilities with a vampire-dressed Parafolk shown during Halloween 2024 content, but the feature is not part of the initial release or the Early Access update schedule.
Development Timeline
Date | Event |
|---|---|
January 2019 | Paralives announced and crowdfunding campaign launched on Patreon. |
September 2025 | Original Early Access release date announced: December 8, 2025. |
November 2025 | Early Access delayed to March 2026, then further delayed to May 25, 2026, due to playtest feedback identifying Live Mode issues. |
May 25, 2026 | Planned Early Access launch on Steam for PC and Mac at $39.99 USD. |
~2028 (estimated) | Targeted 1.0 full release after approximately two years of Early Access. Timeframe subject to change based on development progress. |
The development team has been candid about expectations, advising players not to expect hundreds of hours of gameplay at the Early Access launch. The focus is on delivering a solid foundation that will be expanded through consistent free updates over the two-year Early Access period and beyond.