10 Ways Paralives Lets You Make Any Character You Want

For those who love storytelling in life sims, everything starts with the character creator. Much of the enjoyment of a playthrough depends on deep character customization to create any kind of character you can imagine. I've spent a lot of time in the Paramaker experimenting with its tools and features, and my conclusion is there's a lot to be excited about here.

Paralives brings so many tools that many of us have been begging for over the years, and it feels so good to have them and see them work. I've been able to make some unique Paras just from the default tools, and I'm still in awe that they're available right from the start without being locked behind a paywall. Here are some of my favorite tools for customizing characters in Paralives.

10 Side-by-Side Toggle

Embrace Asymmetry

Accessories are an essential addition to make any character feel complete. In Paralives, you not only get a range of accessories to adorn your Parafolk with, but I was delighted to find that you could edit the left and right sides separately. This goes for left and right arms, legs, and ears, making it easy to make a character with different piercings adorning each ear.

Sometimes the asymmetrical look is what you want to go for, especially if you want only one accessory to be a statement piece rather than both ears showing a super flashy piercing. This is also helpful when adding medical characteristics, such as hearing aids or a prosthetic. Leg prosthetics can be added to either leg, all on a simple toggle.

9 Paralives Already Includes Medical Aids

A Reflection of the Real World

Speaking of medical aids, having them available right from the starting line is a big deal. At the moment, there are hearing aids and leg prosthetics, but hopefully more will be added in the future, like insulin monitors.

Disabilities manifest in different ways, and much of that can be inferred through living environment. Paralives' Build mode includes mobility aids and other disability support, such as a wheelchair, canes, walkers, Braille books, hearing aids, asthma pump, blood glucose meters, sign language books, bars for the bathroom, and text telephones. These all present great storytelling opportunities, even if they aren't functional (yet).

8 The Height Slider

Make Your Height Difference Dreams Come True

Most games with customization don't let you adjust height, and for good reason. It's difficult to animate different heights and accommodate the range of movement they bring when interacting with other characters or objects without having clipping, pathing issues, and a whole lot of other problems.

The Paralives developers spent a lot of time working on height, and there's a massive range of how tall or short you can make your Paras. I'm thrilled with this because height can play such a big role in storytelling and character development. The height of children is also determined by their parents' height, so that their ultimate height will be in the range of one of their parents, but not exactly the same.

7 The Color Wheel

A Customization Powerhouse

The color wheel is a useful tool for building in Paralives, but it also goes a long way in the Paramaker. There are several ways you can use it here. Clothes, piercings, accessories, and tattoos can all be customized with the color wheel, adjusting the color and exact shade you want.

You can also use the color wheel for skin tone. While there is a selection of skin tones for you to choose from, having the color wheel in addition to presets is amazing as it truly opens up the kind of Para you can create. Paras can have any of the natural tones that occur in humans, but they can also have unnatural skin tones. Body marks like moles, freckles, stretch marks, scarring, and birthmarks can also be edited with the color wheel to adjust for skin tone, but more on that later.

6 Diverse Hair Types

Hair That Actually Reflects Real People

Black hair is always underrepresented in life sims, with some foregoing representing Black people entirely. Paralives put Black hair into the Paramaker immediately, and there's a nice selection of Black hairstyles across both genders, something that is unfortunately all too rare and often only happens after fans complain.

Not only are there hairstyles of every type, the ones with accessories include options to change the accessory. At the moment, most of these simply let you remove the accessory, but hopefully more options will be added with updates. The option to remove accessories is already a great start as a lot of the time you want the hairstyle itself, but the accessory clashes with the look. The options available now give an optimistic picture of what is possible for character creation. Different accessories could be added to the same hairstyles, or the same hairstyle could have a number of variations. All of this gives much needed variety and diversity.

5 Layer Your Clothes

A Lot of Fashion is in the Layering

Paralives is in Early Access, and so currently has a limited amount of clothing options. However, the outfits you can create have a bit more flexibility than individual pieces because of the layering tool, which lets you place overcoats, jackets, and vests as the top layer of an outfit, with the shirt layer a separate piece. This gives each relevant top layer at least six different looks, and that's before considering the color wheel.

Alongside layering comes a new option for shirts, which lets you tuck them in or out for different looks. This is great for visual storytelling, as this simple style choice can tell a lot about a Para's personality.

4 Body Modifications

Wear Your Personality on Your Skin

Tattoos are one way for people to express themselves, and they go a long way when creating a unique character. At the moment, Paralives has 11 tattoos, but they can be placed wherever you like on the body and face of your Para. The color wheel also comes into play here, and each tattoo can be resized according to your liking.

There are other, less permanent, ways to customize your Para. The Paramaker comes with a ton of piercing options for the ears and face. The make-up system also allows eyeshadow to be layered, creating looks unique to every Para you create.

3 Add Marks to Your Parafolk

The Details Matter

Scars, moles, freckles, body hair, and birthmarks are options you can use to customize your Paras, make them unique, and visually showcase the lives they've led. These marks are somewhat more limited than applying tattoos, but there are so many options that you can still create unique characters with little effort.

Another plus is that all these marks can also be changed with the color wheel, so you can adapt them to the skin tone of your Para. Many character creators seem to forget that skin tones come in a wide range, and features like scarring or freckles appear differently on different skin tones. The Paramaker addresses this with its color wheel for both skin tones and skin features.

2 Develop Your Para's Personality

The Vibes are Immaculate

Personality is just as important as appearances for a custom character. Paralives has several personality customization options that include the following:

• Stats: Assign points between Physique, Mind, Creativity, and Charisma.
• Vibes: Dictates conversation topics and general demeanor, amongst other things.
• Talents: What they take to naturally. They can also be good at nothing.

You can also customize your Para's sleeping habits (as a night owl I appreciated this), and if they're vegetarian, which is nice to see as its own thing and not a personality trait. Finally, you can adjust their cleaning habits. Having these as separate categories gives you more freedom to shape their personality, while also giving them lifestyle habits, a move I really respect as it makes creating unique Paras with clashing personalities that much easier.

1 Gender Options

Make Anyone You Want

Gender has always been more diverse than a binary, and games have finally started giving us ways to reflect its diversity in the real world. To start with, Paralives has 3 default gender options: Male, Female, and Non-Binary. Alongside these labels, you can also edit your Para's body with options like top-surgery scars. Instead of having a masculine and feminine frame there's one option that you can edit to be as masculine, feminine, or neither, as you want.

There are also options to change your Para's gender beyond appearance. By clicking on the three buttons next to the gender options, you can select your Para's pronouns, their jealousy triggers, and some other options that deepen gameplay.