Paralives, the long-anticipated indie life sim from Alex Massé and his small team, enters Early Access on Monday, May 25, 2026, at 10 AM ET. The launch happens simultaneously worldwide on Steam, so the clock ticks down to the same moment regardless of where you live.
Quick answer: Paralives unlocks on Steam at 10 AM EDT / 2 PM UTC on May 25, 2026, priced at $39.99.
Release time: Monday, May 25, 2026 at 10:00 AM EDT (2:00 PM UTC)
Paralives release time in your timezone
The rollout is a single global unlock rather than a staggered regional one. Players in the Americas get a morning launch, Europe gets it in the afternoon, and most of Asia and Oceania can expect an evening or late-night release.
| Region | Local time | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Pacific (PT) | 7:00 AM | May 25, 2026 |
| Mountain (MT) | 8:00 AM | May 25, 2026 |
| Central (CT) | 9:00 AM | May 25, 2026 |
| Eastern (ET) | 10:00 AM | May 25, 2026 |
| Brazil (BRT) | 11:00 AM | May 25, 2026 |
| UK (BST) | 3:00 PM | May 25, 2026 |
| Central Europe (CEST) | 4:00 PM | May 25, 2026 |
| Eastern Europe (EET) | 5:00 PM | May 25, 2026 |
| Moscow (MSK) | 6:00 PM | May 25, 2026 |
| Gulf (GST) | 6:00 PM | May 25, 2026 |
| India (IST) | 7:30 PM | May 25, 2026 |
| China (CST) / Philippines (PHT) | 10:00 PM | May 25, 2026 |
| Japan (JST) / Korea (KST) | 11:00 PM | May 25, 2026 |
| Australia East (AEST) | 12:00 AM | May 26, 2026 |
| New Zealand (NZST) | 2:00 AM | May 26, 2026 |
Where to buy Paralives
The game launches exclusively on PC and Mac through Steam. There is no preorder, but you can wishlist it from the official Steam store page. Console and mobile versions are not planned.
The development team has also committed to a no-paid-DLC model. Every expansion added during and after Early Access will be free, so the one-time purchase covers the full roadmap.
What's playable on day one
The launch build covers the three core pillars of the simulator: Live mode, Build mode, and the Paramaker character creator. Each ships with a feature set substantial enough to support full life-sim playthroughs, even though some marquee additions like weather, pets, and pools are reserved for free updates.
| Mode | Day-one features |
|---|---|
| Live mode | Open world town, day-night cycle, careers with rabbit-hole work, personality traits, emotions, wants, skills, needs, social interactions, relationships, group actions, cooking, bills, house fires, having children, aging and death, character autonomy, shops, restaurants, museum collections, modding tools. |
| Build mode | Color wheel for every object, curved and angled wall placement, optional grid, split-level platforms, multi-floor construction, movable walls, object resizing, stairs, roof placement, fences. |
| Paramaker | Color wheel, height slider, body and face sliders, tattoo tool, clothing layering, asymmetry options, genetics system, multiple outfit slots per Para. |
Coming during Early Access
The post-launch roadmap fills in the systems many players associate with mature life sims. These arrive as free updates rather than paid expansions, with the full Early Access cycle planned to last about two years before the 1.0 release.
- Live mode additions: weather and seasons, calendar, family tree, dogs, cats, horses, cars, bikes, boats, houseboats, swimming, NPC story progression, gardening, fishing, parties and weddings, phone calls and online chat, town editing tools, more traits and careers.
- Build mode additions: pools, advanced roof and stair tools, doors and windows on curved walls, basements, lakes and ponds, expanded furniture catalog.
- Paramaker additions: pet creation, advanced genetics editing, more clothing, hairstyles, and accessories.
System requirements and language support
Detailed minimum specs have not been published yet, with the team aiming to support laptops and lower-end hardware where possible. Confirmed launch languages include English, French, Simplified Chinese, Latin American Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, German, Italian, and Polish.
Steam Workshop support is live from day one for custom content and mods, though script mods are not currently planned. The game is single-player only and runs offline once installed.
Paralives originally targeted a late 2025 launch but was delayed after playtest feedback flagged Live mode bugs and a thin slate of in-town activities. The extra months went into roughly 300 new build objects, over 100 Paramaker items, nearly 200 new animations, and dozens of additional Live mode features, bringing the Early Access build to what the team calls its gold state.