Life By You shows off a build mode with the potential to rival The Sims 4

Life By You developer Paradox Tectonic has uploaded the latest of their regular Q&A videos, this one focussing on responses to viewer questions following September's build mode showcase and a recent developer livestream:

Now, I usually don't like leaning too hard on The Sims comparisons when discussing a new life sim game, even if the juxtaposition is pretty inevitable given that there's never been any major competition for EA's titan of a franchise up until recently. But Life By You is helmed by Rod Humble, the former Sims Studio Head who rose through the ranks during The Sims 2 era and led initial production of The Sims 3, and there's clearly a lot of The Sims 3's DNA in Life By You; so putting them side-by-side doesn't feel too ungenerous on this occasion.

Life By You seems, by and large, to be out to scoop up fans of The Sims 3 who were disappointed with changes made in The Sims 4, which came out well after Humble's 2010 exit from EA. But one thing most Simmers seem to agree on is that TS4 has the best build mode in the Sims franchise to date, so you might think that Paradox's rival product could be facing an uphill climb in this department.

However, this latest Q&A vid shows that Life By You is determined to keep up with or even surpass The Sims anywhere it can. The overall build mode functions largely the same as the one in The Sims 4, to be honest, but there are numerous little tweaks on display here that Sims fans will likely be excited to see.

The video shows off the ability to place a perimeter fence directly on the edge of the lot as opposed to one square inside the boundary, something that's been bugging me personally since I started playing The Sims in 2001. We also saw deep-dives into customisable curtain height and width, and the ability to add air conditioning as a functional feature for those who want an authentic Southern California architectural experience (but no word yet on whether there'll be central heating for those who live in colder places). There's also no limit on the number of storeys in your builds — other than what your PC can handle, that is.

Paradox Tectonic is making a point of listening to player feedback in response to the in-development footage it regularly shows off, but I can't help but feel it's a little bit extra to listen to player feedback about a different game entirely as well — and I say this as a long-time Simmer who's seemingly quite a bit happier than average with The Sims 4.

However, in the name of balance I will say that most compromises made in The Sims are presumably there for a reason. We already know that Life By You will be a resource-eating monster on PC, something that The Sims 4 was designed to avert where possible; and there's no word yet on how far you can truly customise everything before you break some vital aspect of Life By You's simulation. However, Paradox is being refreshingly honest about leaving some of the AI's little wobbles in these development videos, so I'm confident we'll be learning more about that over the coming months.

Life By You is expected to launch in early access via Steam and the Epic Games Store on March 5th 2024, having been delayed by six months from its original planned release in September.