Paralives launched into early access on May 25, 2026, and if you're jumping in fresh, the game doesn't always explain itself well. The control scheme differs from The Sims, several Paramaker options are hidden behind small UI cues, and the town is packed with secrets that most players walk past without noticing. This guide covers the most important things to do in your first few hours, so you're not figuring it all out the hard way.
Should you start with a premade town or build from scratch?
The temptation to start completely fresh is real, but picking the Town option when you first load in is the smarter move. You get a brief walkthrough of the movement mechanics, access to premade characters you can customize, and you land in a fully built town with things to actually do. Building from an empty lot before you understand the systems is a recipe for frustration.
Paralives also handles controls differently from other life sims, so spend a minute hovering over menu icons before you start clicking. The hotkey tooltips will save you from accidentally triggering things you didn't mean to.
Pick Town for the best start
What Paramaker tricks are easy to miss?
The Paramaker has a few options that aren't obvious on first glance. Here's what to look for before you lock in your character:
- Hairstyles that include accessories have a variant without the accessory. Look for the three white dots in the top-left corner of the hairstyle tile to toggle between versions. Some clothing pieces work the same way.
- Accessories like piercings, jewelry, medical items, and socks let you choose which side of the body they appear on. Click the box next to the section name to set the placement, and you can select both sides if you want.
- To add a nickname or middle name, click the three-dot menu (...) to the right of the First and Last Name fields on the train ticket screen.
- Once you've confirmed your Para and entered the game, you cannot edit their body or facial features through normal means. The only post-creation change available without cheats is swapping outfits at a mirror. To get back into the full Paramaker, open the cheat console and type editcharacter.
Don't rush through the Paramaker assuming you can fix things later. Body and facial edits are locked after character creation unless you use the editcharacter cheat.
How do cheats work in Paralives?
Paralives treats cheating as a feature, not a workaround. Press CTRL+F1 to open the cheat console at any time. Type Help once it's open to see the full list of available commands.
Here are the most useful ones for getting started:
For a full breakdown of every command available, the Paralives money cheats guide covers the Paradime-related options in detail, including how to use setmoney without errors.
Press F5 at any time to manually save. If you're not confident in Autosave catching everything, get into the habit of hitting F5 before any major decision.
CTRL+F1 opens the cheat console
How do you level up your Parafolk effectively?
Parafolk in Paralives have two separate progression systems: skill levels for specific abilities, and individual Para levels tied to completing personal goals. The Para level system is the one most new players overlook.
Completing your Para's active goals earns them experience that raises their overall level. Each time they level up, you unlock a Personality Evolution choice, which adds buffs and effects to a specific aspect of their personality, split between their Vibe and Talent categories. These evolutions compound over time, so the earlier you start chasing goals, the faster your Para becomes noticeably more capable.
Focus on the goals your Para currently has active rather than trying to grind skills randomly. The skill system rewards consistent practice, but the personality system rewards intentional goal completion.
Thoughts are tied to your Para's current emotional state and can point you toward goals worth completing. Check them regularly in the early game.
What should you do every single day?
Paralives has a handful of daily actions that are easy to forget but add up fast:
- Read the Newspaper every morning. It lists town events, club activities, job ads, exclusive Para goals, free skill level-ups, and occasional Paradime coupons. Missing it means missing time-limited opportunities.
- Check the beach for washed-up crates. These appear overnight and contain random furniture items. They don't stick around forever.
- Scan for red treasure chests while exploring. Opening one gives you a random furniture item.
- Look for disturbed earth patches around town. These are buried chests containing rare collectibles you can donate to the Museum. The Paralives museum donation guide walks through exactly what to collect and where to bring it.
- Visit the General Store if you want new recipes. You can learn up to two new recipes per day by interacting with the Recipe Book inside, at a cost of 100 Paradimes each.
Check the newspaper every morning
How do you get around town faster?
Running everywhere is unnecessary. Paralives has a bus system that works as a fast travel option. Find any bus stop on the map, click it, and a full map of all bus stops opens. Select your destination and your Para warps there instantly. Each trip costs 3 Paradimes, which is cheap enough that there's no reason to avoid it.
Train tunnels are another shortcut worth knowing. Some tunnels in town let your Para walk through them, cutting travel time across the map significantly. These aren't marked on any tutorial, so they're easy to miss on your first playthrough.
When buying a new lot, switch your measurement units in the settings first. You can set them to Imperial, metric, or even bananas. Getting a sense of lot size in a unit you understand prevents expensive mistakes.
Settings worth checking before you play
Hit Esc and open the settings menu before you get deep into a session. A few options here matter more than they look:
- Autosave can be toggled on or off. The manual save shortcut is F5.
- Measurement units affect how lot sizes display when you're shopping for property. Pick whatever unit you actually understand.
- Parafolk autonomy controls how much your Paras act on their own. Adjusting this early shapes how hands-on your experience feels.
Where to go from here
These fundamentals cover the first few hours, but Paralives has a lot more depth once you're settled in. The Paralives guides collection covers everything from building your first home to mastering specific skill trees, so there's no shortage of direction once the basics click.
