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Roadmap and Planned Features
May 12, 2026 at 02:52 PM
Re-ordered lifestages list to canonical order: Baby, Toddler, Child, Preteen, Teenager, Young Adult, Adult, Elder.
Paralives launches into Steam Early Access on Monday, May 25, 2026, at $39.99 USD on PC and macOS. The Early Access period is expected to last approximately two years, after which the game will exit Early Access with a 1.0 release. Throughout the Early Access window, content updates will arrive as free patches under the studio's no-paid-DLC commitment.
This article is the canonical reference for the Day 1 vs post-launch feature split, as confirmed in the May 7, 2026 Early Access feature recap. Where prior drafts grouped pets, vehicles, swimming, weather, and other major systems as launch content, this version reflects the explicit Day 1 carveouts the studio has now published. For the broader Early Access framing, pricing, and language support, see Early Access. For the studio's broader history, see Paralives Studio and Development History.
The launch build covers the three core gameplay pillars and the systems that anchor them. The table below collects the systems and venues that are confirmed Day 1.
System | Confirmed Scope at Launch | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gender-neutral base preset, sliders for chest, hips, buttocks, and height; color wheel for skin, hair, and eye colors; asymmetry options for eye color and clothing accessories; layered clothing top mixing; tattoos; gender-identity assignment independent of body presentation | |||||
Color wheel for every object and surface, curved walls and walls at any angle, optional grid-less placement for walls AND objects, split-level platforms, multi-floor construction, object resizing via corner anchors, in-game measuring tape, stairs, roofs, fences, basic terrain tools | |||||
Open-world town with no loading screens between lots, day-night cycle, character autonomy, multi-Parafolk group selection, personality traits, emotions, wants, needs, skills | |||||
11 named domains; named workplaces at Bloom, Headlines, Museum, SuperGamezPlus Inc., schools, and cafes; rabbit-hole shifts at launch; daily upgrade choice via the Expertise System; multi-job mechanic when schedules align | |||||
Rank Upgrade, Expertise Upgrade, Extra Upgrade branches; Application Points hiring; cross-domain expertise transfer | |||||
Cooking System | Full cooking system covering recipes and food spoilage | ||||
Weekly lot tax, electricity, water cycle; paradime balance shared across the household | |||||
Confirmed Day 1; aging and death also Day 1 | |||||
Baby ( | ), Toddler, Child ( | ), Preteen, Teenager, Young Adult, Adult, Elder all Day 1 | |||
Confirmed Day 1 death-cause set | |||||
Museum, L'Armoire, Market Antiques, Bloom, Headlines, SuperGamezPlus Inc., Premium Gym, Creme Cafe, The Story Nook, Chez Maurice, schools | |||||
Park Yoga (Sun / Tue / Thu, Fitness skill), Marketplace (Sun, oddities and painter stalls), Astronomy Club (Mon / Wed / Fri, Science skill at the mountaintop), | Hunt (Thu, around 20 build-mode-asset chests across town and the castle exterior) | ||||
PL130 bus line and | ; 3 | per ride | |||
Day 1 in-game modding tools and Workshop publishing; Control Panel via Ctrl+F2; mod storage under AppData LocalLow Paralives | |||||
Contextual Live Mode music; 16 mixed and mastered tracks + 12 radio tracks; custom radio music supported via modding | |||||
Photo Mode capture; assets are moddable; time-of-day adjustment, animation frame selection, filters, depth of field, bloom, frames, and stickers | |||||
191 new animations added in 2025; 11 new ambient town animations with confirmed variations; walk styles vary by personality + emotional state + life stage | |||||
Help Menu | In-game help menu introduced March 24, 2026 |
Several systems are confirmed for free updates during the Early Access period rather than at Day 1. The table below collects the post-launch additions the studio has explicitly named. Specific patch dates are intentionally not committed.
Feature | Status |
|---|---|
Pets (dogs, cats, horses) | Free update during Early Access |
Vehicles (cars, bikes) | Free update during Early Access |
Boats and houseboats | Free update during Early Access |
Swimming and pools | Free update during Early Access |
Weather and seasons | Free update during Early Access |
Calendar | Free update during Early Access |
Family tree UI | Free update during Early Access; genetics system itself is Day 1, but the family-tree viewer is post-launch |
Gardening | Free update during Early Access |
Fishing | Free update during Early Access |
Story progression for NPCs | Free update during Early Access |
Organized social events (weddings, parties) | Free update during Early Access |
Free update during Early Access | |
Advanced roof and stair tools | Free update during Early Access |
Basements | Free update during Early Access |
Curved doors and windows | Free update during Early Access |
Pet creation tools | Free update during Early Access (after the pets update lands) |
Calling Paras over the phone and chatting online | Free update during Early Access; carved out of Day 1 explicitly |
Each of these will arrive as a free patch under the no-paid-DLC commitment. The studio has explicitly avoided committing to specific patch dates while the launch build stabilizes. The ordering of updates will be shaped by community feedback, technical opportunity, and the team's evolving priorities during Early Access. See Community for the broader community-engagement framing.
The following features have either been explicitly deferred or were never on the roadmap. Players should treat them as not promised.
Feature | Reason / Status |
|---|---|
Script mods | Not supported at launch; under consideration for a later date but no commitment |
Console versions | Not planned; PC and macOS only |
Mobile versions | Not planned; PC and macOS only |
Controller and Steam Deck support | Not confirmed for launch; keyboard and mouse are the supported input |
Multiplayer or co-op | Not planned; single-player only |
Mature content (drugs, gore, murder, sexual violence, pornography) | Excluded by the Teen-rating target |
Occult / supernatural characters (vampires, werewolves) | Targeted for post-Early Access, not part of the EA roadmap window |
Cross-platform multiplayer or cloud sharing of households | Not planned; the game is single-player and local-only |
Build Mode continues to grow through Early Access. Day 1 covers the core toolset, but several advanced toggles arrive later.
Curved doors and windows arrive post-launch
Basement construction arrives post-launch
Advanced roof tools (more roof shapes, dormers, complex overhangs) arrive post-launch
Advanced stair tools (spiral stairs, custom landings) arrive post-launch
Town editing tools that let players add or modify districts arrive post-launch
Pool tools arrive post-launch alongside swimming
Live Mode systems also expand during Early Access. The post-launch list below mixes lifestyle, parenting, and routine-life additions.
Pet creation tools and pet behavior, after pets ship
Calendar integration so household members can schedule events
Family tree UI to visualize relationships and ancestry
Story progression for NPCs so the wider town ages and lives independently
Calling and online chatting so social systems reach across the town
Gardening, fishing, and additional hobbies that expand the hobby library
Additional traits, vibes, and lifestyles to deepen personality customization
Paramaker also gains content during Early Access. The launch toolset is already broad, but planned additions include:
More hairstyles and clothing options
Pitch sliders for voice variation
More Vibes, Talents, and Social Perks
Expanded asymmetry hooks for additional accessory categories
Modding support for Vibes, Talents, Social Perks, Together Cards, and Relationship labels
Modding and Steam Workshop is Day 1, but the modding toolkit also expands during Early Access. The Day 1 toolkit covers Build Mode assets, Paramaker assets, Photo Mode assets, careers, genetics, rabbit holes, recipes, TV channels, relationship labels, together cards, vibes, wants, food, and custom radio music. Planned additions during Early Access include broader asset categories, additional file format support, and more granular configuration hooks. Script mods remain under consideration without a firm timeline.
Several April and May 2026 dev showcases helped tighten expectations for the launch build.
Date | Topic | Notes |
|---|---|---|
April 2, 2026 | Town Events Showcase | First public look at scheduled town events including the Sunday marketplace and the Thursday Buried Treasure Hunt |
April 7, 2026 | New Building Sneak Peek | Reveal of an additional commercial building added to the open world |
April 9, 2026 | Museum Showcase | Reveal of the in-town museum venue with the collectibles donation pipeline |
April 14, 2026 | Town Animations | Ambient town animations layered onto venues and pedestrians |
April 23, 2026 | Walking Animations | New walking animation set driven by Vibes, Emotions, and Lifestages |
May 5, 2026 | Early Access Golden Recap | Internal milestone marker that locked the planned Day 1 build |
May 7, 2026 | Early Access Features Recap | Explicit Day 1 vs post-launch carveouts; this article's canonical source |
The studio has indicated that the 1.0 release, targeted for sometime in 2028, will collect every Early Access free update plus additional content. Beyond the post-launch feature list, the studio has noted several stretch goals that may or may not land by 1.0:
Additional death types beyond the launch set
Deeper parenting gameplay and a simple child-services system
Baby carriers for transporting babies around the world
Library and bookshop venue types
Additional retail venue types with ordering and delivery systems
Cell towers and broader NPC communication systems
Non-life-threatening illnesses
Objects that influence Parafolk emotions and behavior in finer-grained ways
None of these stretch goals are committed to a specific patch. They reflect the studio's broader direction rather than a guaranteed feature schedule.
Roadmaps in long-running Early Access games shift as priorities change. The Paralives team has been candid that the Day 1 build is the starting point for an iterative, feedback-driven Early Access window of approximately two years. Players who join at launch should expect both a steady stream of free updates and occasional reshufflings of the order in which planned features arrive. The studio plans to communicate roadmap changes through its public posts and patch notes as they happen, rather than committing to a fixed quarterly cadence.
