The Sims 4: Luxury Party Stuff

Love, work and kleptomania return in The Sims 3, Electronic Arts' enormous life-controlling sequel to the bestselling PC game of all time.

Fans of life-simulator games have been eating well lately, as the dominance of The Sims 4 has been challenged by new kids on the block like InZoi and Paralives. While both of these titles are considered to be serious challengers in a cozy genre of living your best life, the team behind Paralives doesn't see itself as a "Sims-killer," preferring instead to view the game as another option in the genre. After all, competition in this field will ultimately benefit players by offering them more choice. "I think having more than one life-sim game makes for such a better experience for players," Para

I was on my knees pleading for a scrap of strategy gameplay and Paralives has laid me a feast of fun simulation effects.

Paralives gets off to a lovely start. We fade up to see the camera tracking a moving train as it winds serenely across a bucolic landscape. Slowly it moves in for an aerial view and the roof pops off, revealing the guard inside. And this is your movement tutorial; you'll guide the little fella into the next carriage, where a cluster of passengers leisurely watch the world go by. One handsome man slumps blissfully against his girlfriend; a group of friends laugh together across the aisle. Another man gazes dreamily into space, nodding along to something on his headphones, while a dad nearby kee

Paralives is stuffed with cool details that have me falling in love with the life sim.