Paralives gives you genuine control over the passage of time, which is something life sim players have wanted for years. There are 8 distinct life stages, three lifespan presets that can stretch a full playthrough to 384 in-game days, and a handful of death types that range from starvation to old age. If you just spent an hour perfecting a Para in the character creator, the last thing you want is for them to drop dead before you have explored half the town. This guide covers every setting you need to keep them alive, slow time down, or let nature run its course.
How does aging work in Paralives?
Paralives tracks age through 8 life stages: Baby, Toddler, Child, Pre-Teen, Teen, Young Adult, Adult, and Elder. Each stage lasts a set number of in-game days, and Paras move to the next stage automatically once that timer expires. The physical changes between stages are visible, with new slider values and skin details appearing as Paras get older.
To check how much time a Para has left in their current stage, open their profile from the side menu by clicking the small figure icon below their name. Hovering over the lifespan bar shows the exact number of days remaining. Younger Paras like Children and Pre-Teens have segmented bars that represent individual growth spurts within their stage.
Para lifespan bar overview
All life stage durations at every setting
The Storyteller menu controls how long each stage lasts. You can choose between Short, Normal, and Long durations, and the difference between them is substantial. On Long settings, a Young Adult stage alone lasts 87 days compared to just 10 on Short.
Young Adult is the longest stage on every setting, while Baby is the shortest. The gap widens dramatically on Long, where a Young Adult outlasts a Baby by 74 days.
How to stop aging in Paralives
Stopping aging makes your Paras immortal. They stay locked in their current life stage indefinitely, and natural death from old age becomes impossible. Here is how to do it:
- Click the three dots in the top right corner of the screen to open the options menu.
- Select Storyteller.
- Choose Custom Storyteller to access individual settings.
- Under the Time subheading, find the toggle labeled Household Paras Age and turn it off.
That toggle is the top option under the Time subheading, so you do not need to hunt through the menu.
What about non-household Paras?
Here is the quirk that catches most players off guard. While your household Paras age by default, the setting for Non-Household Paras Age is turned off by default across every Storyteller. That means the strangers wandering around Melino will stay perpetually young unless you manually enable that option. If you want a world where everyone ages together, find the Non-Household Paras Age toggle directly below the Household one and switch it on.
Storyteller aging settings
How to extend lifespans without turning aging off
Full immortality is not for every playthrough. If you want more time without removing death entirely, adjust the Duration of Life Stages setting in the same Custom Storyteller menu. Switching from Normal to Long gives you a total lifespan of 384 days compared to 91 on Normal.
The same menu also has a Minutes Per Real-Life Seconds slider. This controls how fast the in-game clock moves, letting you make individual days last significantly longer in real time. Combining Long life stages with a slower clock is the most effective way to slow the pace of a save without disabling aging altogether.
For players who want granular control over a single Para rather than adjusting global settings, console commands can force a character into the next life stage, trigger growth spurts on demand, or revive someone who died unexpectedly. If you are just getting started and want to know what else to tackle first, the things you should do first in Paralives guide covers the most important early priorities.
What are the death types in Paralives?
Currently, Paralives has four ways a Para can die. Death animations are still being developed in early access, so most deaths show a brief start animation before the Para disappears and a screen notification appears.
Starvation
Paras who go without food long enough will starve to death. The exact time varies because different traits, skills, and lifestyles affect the size of a Para's hunger bar. A Para with a larger hunger bar naturally takes longer to reach the point of no return.
Exhaustion
Exhaustion is one of the fastest ways to lose a Para outside of fire. Paras who are teens or older will die if their energy bar fully depletes rather than simply passing out. Testing with a full household locked out of beds showed that it took from Monday morning at 10:05 AM to Wednesday afternoon at 3:43 PM for the first Para to die from exhaustion.
Exhaustion death warning
Fire
Fire spreads fast and can take out an entire room if left unchecked. Paras who catch fire develop a dedicated needs bar that drains as they burn. When it empties, they die. With autonomy enabled, Paras will attempt to evacuate or extinguish fires on their own and enter a state of shock that temporarily overrides hunger and exhaustion needs. With autonomy disabled, they will stand still and burn.
Old age
When an Elder Para reaches the end of their life stage bar, they die from natural causes. Hovering over the bar shows exactly how much time remains, down to hours and minutes. The death animation shows them clutching their chest before they disappear.
Which Paras are immune to death?
Not every Para can die. The game currently protects two groups:
- Preteens and younger are completely immune to all death types. They can stand in a fire and remain unharmed. If they are neglected or starved, they disappear and are taken by social services rather than dying.
- Pregnant Paras are fully immune to death for the duration of their pregnancy. They will not catch fire naturally and cannot die from any cause until after the pregnancy ends.
If you are planning a family and want to understand how pregnancy interacts with these systems, the how to have a baby in Paralives guide has the full breakdown.
What happens after a Para dies?
Post-death content is limited in the current early access build. Paras who knew the deceased carry sad emotional moodlets that can heavily affect their daily lives for an extended period. The deceased Para disappears entirely, and no gravestone or urn is left behind.
A cemetery exists in Melino but is not yet functional, and there are currently no ghosts or resurrection mechanics outside of console commands. This is clearly placeholder behavior for a game still in active development.
For more on managing your household through all of life's milestones, the full Paralives guides collection covers relationships, skills, careers, and everything else the game currently offers.