Welcome to another session of In Other News, a roundup of what has been going on with games you may enjoy if you play The Sims.
Here’s what you should know today and the games you should be paying attention to.
Paralives
Many of you asked me to talk about this game, so here it is! In case you missed it, Paralives has been in development for a few years now and its release date, although unnanounced, is closer than ever. The indie life simulator has recently shared two updates from behind the scenes: Exercise animations (watch the video below) and fire (which you can read all about on a blog post).
Metropolis 1998
Speaking of indie games, this one seems to be aimed straight at the heart of elder millennials like me. This city builder is based on games from the late 1990s (as its name suggests), bringing back the aesthetics from when games were not all 3D (like the first The Sims, released in 2000). I’ve been following development closely on Twitter and I gotta say, it looks very promising. It’s set to be released in late 2024, and you can already wishlist it on Steam.
Im working on Metropolis 1998, a City Builder with:
– 90s Aesthetics
– Customizable homes
– Individual agent simulation
– Interior views and more!Wishlist here! https://t.co/TNzquTJErd pic.twitter.com/C4KHaaZW3A
— Yesbox – Metropolis 1998 (@YesboxStudios) April 29, 2024
InZoi
The upcoming Korean life simulator has just started a design contest in partnership with Connect that will give money prizes for the winners. They’re asking people to create outfits inspired by two cities coming with the game: Bliss Bay and Dowon. If you lack the skills to enter the contest, you can still visit their page and find out more about the two cities (which is honestly why I was interested in bringing these news).
Vivaland
Glass walls are the main addition to Vivaland Dream House, the house builder/demo for upcoming life simulator Vivaland. The developers also shared a behind the scenes Q&A with a game designer, which you can watch below.
Life by You
Merely a few weeks before its (multiple times delayed) release date (June 4th), Paradox announced that Life by You will be delayed yet again, this time without an announced release window. “We believe that additional development time is needed”, said Mattias Lilja, Deputy CEO of Paradox Interactive on a post in their public forums.
And a brand new life sim, yet to be announced
A couple weeks ago, Polygon reported that Grant Rodiek, former game director for Project Rene and a long time producer on The Sims, has partnered up with Jake Solomon (XCOM, Marvel’s Midnight Sun) in his new company, Midsummer Studios, for a brand new life simulator game. “At Midsummer we’re making a life sim focused on the drama of modern life, where our players will write meaningful stories just by playing, and then share those stories with the world”, says Solomon in a press release. We’ll see how this story develops.
