In Life Simulations, one of the major features to show the passage of time is the exact opposite… Death! Death in life simulation games is important for games that have generational and family-based gameplay. Death can act as a fun twist to add drama or a signifier of progression in your save, especially seeing a character through their entire life to their natural death. Another aspect of life simulations like this is aging. Paralives aging acts similarly to other life simulations you are familiar with, with set periods of time for each stage and automatic aging upon birthdays if aging is on.

Paralives Aging and Death Types

When creating a new save or customizing an existing one, you can pick your Storyteller and individually adjust their settings to tailor the speed, difficulty, and actual gameplay of that save. This include lifespans, lengths of pregnancy and trimesters, auto aging being on or off, etc.

The physical difference between Paras in each life stage is noticeable, with new slider values becoming visible as they age and new skin details popping up to show the passage of time. There are eight life stages so far in the game.

Death Types

Currently, death type animations are incomplete. Some will display a start animation, like clutching a chest for old age death or collapsing from a fire death. However, afterwards, Paras will disappear and you will receive a screen pop-up explaining what happened.

Starvation

Paralives can starve to death after a certain period of time without food. Since different Paras have different traits or skills or lifestyles that will change how long of a hunger bar they have, the time from their last meal to starvation does vary.

Exhaustion

The quickest way for Paras to die excluding fire is exhaustion. Instead of passing out, Paras will just die if they are teens or older and have fully exhausted their energy bar. Make sure they get good rest, because only a few days of no sleep is enough to take them out! When testing with a full household with no access to beds, it only took from Monday morning at 10:05AM to 15:43PM/3:43PM Wednesday afternoon for one of my Paras to die.

Fire

Fire in Paralives is quick and dangerous, and can easily take out an entire room or a significant portion of a home if you are not careful. This also means Paras are in danger. When autonomy is on, Paras will attempt to save their lives and the lives of those around them by evacuating or extinguishing things. They will often enter a state of shock that will ignore all other needs until they are back to safety, meaning they can survive hunger and exhaustion if they are in shock due to a fire. Paras who catch on fire have a new needs bar that will decrease the more they burn, and once it is empty, they die.

Old Age

Dying from old age or natural causes will happen once an elderly Para has reached the end of their life stage progression bar. When hovering over the bar, you will be told how long there is left in that stage down to the hours and minutes. Once that happens, they will clutch their chest and disappear, with a notification telling you they have passed from old age.

Para Death Behaviors

Paras will autonomously attempt to save their own lives for accidental death. If autonomy is disabled, they cannot perform these actions. This means that Paras will just stand around and starve, exhaust themselves, or catch on fire and will not perform life saving measures in any capacity.

Are Any Life Stages Protected From Death?

The only Paras who can actually pass away are Paras teen or older. Preteens and younger are completely immune to death. They can literally stand normally and act normally while actively on fire. If they starve or become neglected, they will disappear and be whisked away by social services. Paras are also fully immune to death while pregnant.

A pregnant Para will not naturally catch on fire and will not die in any case until they are no longer pregnant.

After Death

Since this is still a game in early access, the after death content is very limited. Paras they know the deceased will carry sad emotions for quite a while that can really overtake their whole life. Otherwise, the Paras will disappear and no gravestone or urn is left behind.

There are hints that this won’t be a forever thing, as a cemetery is available in Melino, but it just is not currently functional. There are also currently no ghosts and no way to resurrect Paras outside of cheats.

Do you want ghosts or an afterlife in Paralives? Is Paralives aging settings something you like, or is there a different approach you’d like to see? Let us know, and make sure to provide feedback to the developers themselves online through their website or Steam! Make sure to keep an eye on The Sims Community as we supply you with Paralives Guides, tips, and tricks!