The Sims is receiving a direct competitor in the form of a new game currently nearing the end of its development, Life by You. Since its release, The Sims has dominated the life simulation genre, which it largely helped create. However, Life by You might be a competitor to the franchise that's changing up a few core features that players might be used to seeing in The Sims games.
Since both games are life simulators, and some of Life by You's development team have been involved with The Sims, it might not seem surprising that there are many similar elements shared by the games. Yet for as many similarities as the games share, there are big differences in the way Life by You lets players interact with the world. The popularity of The Sims has endured for over two decades, but Life by You could threaten its hold on the genre.
10 Switching Characters
The Sims has players focus on one household at a time, and that can include up to eight Sims or a combination of Sims and pets. Switching to a different household requires exiting the game session to load a different family. However, this doesn't appear to be the case for Life by You.
Switching focus from one character to another in Life by You is a more fluid process compared to The Sims. Players can move from character to character at any point, even if those characters live in a different household. This can help create a different interactive feeling when compared to The Sims as players can jump from household to household without loading screens interrupting the experience.
9 In-Game Languages
The in-game language for The Sims is Simlish, a fictional language that's become a staple of the franchise. While it can be fun to hear covers of popular songs done in Simlish and hear what Sims say with only pictures over their heads to provide context, there could be benefits to using English and other real languages in a life sim. However, there could also be some drawbacks to using real languages in Life by You.
Life by You shows the use of English in the announcement trailer, which could be an interesting change compared to The Sims' use of Simlish. Using English lets players choose what they want their characters to say when speaking to others, and that can help create more dynamic relationships. This could end up requiring players to pay more attention to Life by You when playing, however, as it seems like it could be possible to miss important dialogue between characters when they are acting of their own will rather than being directly controlled.
8 Shopping
Unless a Sim owns their own business, interactions in a shop are limited in The Sims. From the announcement trailer, it looks like Life by You might make shopping a bit more interactive than The Sims franchise. To what extent shopping interactions will go in Life by You remains uncertain, however, as only a small snippet has been shown so far.
7 Jobs
Life by You seems to be taking its own approach to character careers, which may address some issues with The Sims 4's active careers. Jobs look like they'll be interactive, but players aren't limited to the careers that are included by default in Life by You. One listed feature for the game is a Career Builder, so it seems like players will be able to craft and add the jobs they want their characters to have without using mods like in The Sims.
6 Mods
Alongside the Career Builder, Life by You will also include a Mod Builder. Players will be given the tools to craft their own mods and customize their game to an extent that isn't as easy to do with The Sims. While it's possible to also make mods for The Sims, a Mod Builder isn't included with the game itself.
5 Character Customization
While there are similarities between the character customization styles of both Life by You and The Sims, it looks like the former will have a few differences to set it apart from its competition. Options for characters in Life by You include a numerical age and a life stage rather than just the latter, and players can choose the genders that characters are attracted to during creation. The personality section also includes elements regarding developmental experiences like Rural Upbringing and Happy Childhood, but it's unclear how exactly those will impact characters.
4 World Builder
The Sims 4 limits the placement of houses to preselected lots available in each neighborhood, and there aren't an incredible number of options. Life by You looks more flexible with its placement of houses in the world, and seems more similar to The Sims 2 in this aspect. This could be particularly interesting if Life by You includes a feature like The Sims 4's gallery where players are able to fill their worlds with creations shared by other players.
3 House And Furniture Customization
The Sims 4, when it comes to customizing furniture, features a set of preselected colors and patterns for each object. While not a lot has been shown for Life by You yet, a glimpse from the trailer shows that players aren't limited when it comes to colors for furniture, being able to use a color wheel to pick the exact color they want. As for customizing houses, the process looks fairly similar in both games aside from the mention before of Life by You allowing more options for house placements in the world.
2 Dialogue Builder
In The Sims franchise, dialogue is basically non-existent. The closest to having actual dialogue in The Sims would likely be the prompts that pop up when a Sim receives a phone call or text and the player is given the option to perhaps give advice to another Sim or accept an invitation to go to another location. When interacting with other Sims, the use of Simlish limits players to choosing options like Compliment Appearance or Insult, but there aren't specifications to what the Sims will say as a result of those choices.
As additional customization for the use of English in Life by You, there is also a Dialogue Builder that players can use to write what they want their characters to say. This lets the feature act as a new way to have control over relationships using conversation and not just actions. This feature can also lend itself to a focus on storytelling in Life by You that isn't always present in The Sims.
1 Direct Control
While The Sims lets players focus on one character at a time in their current household and allow the other to take care of themselves during that time, Life by You looks to be taking the ability to control character to another level. Players can assume control of a character to the point that they can drive for the character or walk using their keyboard. Combined with an open world, the ability to take direct control of characters might help increase the feeling of immersion for players.
The Sims has dominated the life simulation genre for decades, but Life by You might be the first competitor with the potential to shake the hold The Sims has on the genre. Life by You allows customization for most aspects of the game, plus the Mod Builder will let players tailor the game further to their tastes. They may be part of the same genre, but there are some big differences between The Sims and Life by You.
Source: Life by You/YouTube
