Paralives Beginner Guide — What to Do First

Seeking out good Paralives tips is necessary to fully learn this complex life simulation game. There are dozens of menu options that seem overwhelming to a beginner. Thankfully, it’s not hard to get into if you take your time.

To fully enjoy Paralives, you need to learn what to do first when it comes to character customization, building, and core gameplay. Beginners need to prioritize actions that will save them time and get them into the core gameplay right away:

1. Use a pre-made Parafolk or a created one.
2. Move into a pre-furnished home to save time.
3. Edit various key bindings and learn some beginner tips.
4. Experiment with Build Mode.
5. Get a job for moneymaking potential.
6. Explore the world and find new activities to do.
7. Manage needs, emotions, and wants when necessary.

1. Paralives Beginner Guide: Completing the Tutorial

Town is the default option that is pre-made for you

If you are a beginner to Paralives, make sure you select a pre-made Starting Map, like Town. Don’t select the Simple Empty Terrain option, as that is only recommended for players who are used to the game’s building features. Click on New Game to get started.

1. Select Town as your first Starting Map.
2. Click on Yes for the tutorial pop-up.
3. Go through the opening cutscene and complete this part of the tutorial, which includes holding button commands until you fill up the green bar.
4. Click to move your Parafolk to the blue squares.
5. Select either a pre-made household by clicking on any character other than Roberto, or click on Create New Household.

Pre-made Parafolk makes the game faster to get into right away, but Paralive’s enjoyable, in-depth character customization is available through Create New Household.

Creating a Parafolk Through the Paramaker

You should see a randomized Parafolk at first

If you previously selected the Create New Household option, you will access the Paramaker. This is essentially a menu screen where you create up to eight characters. For simplicity’s sake, only create one Parafolk as a Paralives beginner.

1. Start with the bottom right corner on the Paramaker screen.
2. Enter the name, gender, and other details.
3. Customize up to four outfits in the top right: Casual, Formal, Workout, and Pajamas.
   • Randomize your Parafolk to quickly finish everything by clicking on the white dice icon on top of the screen above Outfits.
4. Click the top-leftmost icon featuring a person to see submenus for Body, Face, Hair, Makeup, and Tattoos.
5. Change the physical appearance of your Parafolk to match your desired gender. 
   • Click on Body, then Chest Shape, and pick the preset you prefer.
6. Repeat the above step for Bottom Shape.
7. You are able to select multiple options in some menus. An item is selected if it has a blue border around it.
8. Adjust the Body Sliders under the Body tab for more customization.
9. You move sliders by clicking on the arrow buttons on them, then dragging them around to your desired look.
10. Adjust the Face Sliders under the Face tab with the same mechanics.
11. Select presets for a quicker creation when needed.
12. Go through all the customization options under Appearance and Clothing as you like.
13. Clothing is the white icon with clothes on the top left.
14. You are able to use the color wheel by clicking on the white + icon under the color sections.
15. To change hair color, pick your desired haircut, then scroll all the way up to see multiple options under the Hair Color section.
16. Repeat the customization suite for the other three outfits.

Finishing Up the Paramaker

An example of a completed Personality screen

All that’s left to do is customize your Parafolk’s personality. Like before, you are able to randomize everything to get everything done quickly by clicking on the dice block icon that says Randomize, except this time it’s on the left menu.

1. Click on Personality, which is accessible through the white brain icon.
2. Click on the buttons above Physique, Mind, Creativity, and Charisma to make your character more adept in those fields.
3. Select a Vibe, Social Perk, and Talent. Don’t pick the Good at Nothing Talent, as that makes Paralives harder.
4. Enter Lifestyles as you see fit.
5. Once you’ve finished customizing your Parafolk, click on the blue check mark to proceed with the tutorial.

You are always able to create new households after the tutorial by pressing the Esc key, then clicking on Create New Household.

Storytellers Influence the Paralive’s Difficulty

From left to right: Ricardo, Maxence, and Stella

A unique feature of Paralives is the ability to select a Storyteller, who influences how difficult your game will be. At the end of the Paralives tutorial, you have an option to select one of three options. 

• Stella: Easy difficulty
• Maxence: Medium difficulty
• Ricardo Castello III: Hard difficulty

Pick the dog named Stella for the easiest experience for a beginner. You are able to change your choice later on without restrictions.

2. Beginner Tips for the UI and Gameplay Features

The in-game map screen shows you various icons of important locations and playable Parafolks

After finally finishing the tutorial, you will start with 35,000 Paradimes. Move into a pre-furnished house to avoid building everything from scratch. The best beginner tips for Paralives players are tied to understanding and utilizing the game’s vast UI and miscellaneous settings.

• Stop aging by pressing Esc, then click on the following in this order:
  1. Storyteller
  2. Customize Storyteller
  3. Turn off Household Paras Age.
• Accessing Build Mode is done by either pressing ‘B‘ or by clicking on the house button on the bottom left corner of your screen. 
• Enter Live Mode by clicking on your Parafolk’s icon next to the build icon.
• Open Settings by pressing Esc, then clicking on Settings. Change Key Bindings to something convenient for you.
• Pause time by clicking on the pause button in the bottom-right of your screen. Its default key bind is Spacebar.
• Access Cheat Codes by entering CTRL and F1. Enter Jackpot for 50,000 Paradimes if you need more money.
• Click on the Toggle Wall Visibility option to see through some walls so you’re able to see what you’re doing. The 2nd option with the partial see-through walls is the best here.
• The white circle with an ‘i’ icon is the Help Guide. Clicking on it will give you tutorials on everything in the game.
• Pressing CTRL and ‘H’ hides the UI, allowing you to take screenshots more seamlessly.

Build Mode Buttons in Paralives

The Build Mode Menu screen has several categories containing everything you need to build a home

Build Mode allows Paralives players to build homes and put objects into them. It’s incredibly complex for a beginner, with several categories to learn before a player efficiently builds new rooms, buildings, and other related content. Clickable buttons on the left side include:

• Build: Contains Walls, Paint, Doors, Windows, Stairs, Roofs & Chimneys, Architectural Details, and Fences.
• Rooms: Contains items for the Living Room, Kitchen, Dining Room, Bathroom, Bedroom, Kid’s Room, Office, and Outdoors.
• Furnishings: Contains items for Seating, Surfaces, Beds, Storage, Appliances, Plumbing, Lighting, Electrical Devices, Hobbies, Kids, Decor, and Clutter.
• Terrain Tools: Contains options tied to Nature, Terrain Sculpting, and Terrain Planting.
• Search: This option lets you search for anything.

There are several icons at the top part of the screen that you need to look at to fully flesh out the building experience. These include:

• Cursor Mode: This lets you select objects to edit them and move walls.
• Sledgehammer: This lets you get rid of walls, items, and entire rooms.
• Pipette: This lets you copy an item already in your home.
• Bulldoze Lot: This lets you quickly delete everything in your home.

Beginners are recommended to focus on buying furnishings and moving them around before experimenting with changing the layout of an entire building.

Understanding Emotions and Wants

An example of a happy Parafolk in Paralives

On the left side of your screen are several Wants and Emotions above your character’s portrait. Emotions look like emojis on a card. If you see an exclamation mark on one of those cards, click on it to pick a reaction that determines your next Want, which is basically a short-term objective to consider.

Emotions impact Parafolks in some less-than-obvious ways aside from determining Wants. Wants are connected to Emotions, but they reset after your Parafolk sleeps.

• Emotions provide bonuses to job performance and how quickly you learn new skills.
• Emotions also unlock Together Cards, which are tied to conversations.
• Pin a Want by clicking on the pin icon in the top right corner of the Want.
• Pinned Wants don’t disappear after sleeping.

Your Parafolk’s personality helps determine Wants and Emotions.

3. What to do First – Make Some Money

Follow this gameplay video to learn how you can get a job in Paralives.

Paralives players need to earn money to enjoy more content in the game. Avoid spending too much on objects and building a new home without a sustainable income. 

1. Get a Job, easily done by using a Computer and selecting Find a Job.
2. Select a job that suits your Parafolk’s skills and schedule.
3. Go to work once it becomes available.

Much of the fun in Paralives lies in its open sandbox nature. Now that you have a revenue stream ready, it’s time to explore the game for what it offers as a beginner.

• The Newspaper feature (which looks like a white newspaper icon) shows you local news and gives you some potential events to do.
• The pinned Settle Home checkboxes give you some tasks to complete as you get used to the game.
• You have the option to travel by foot or by bus at the start of the game.
  • To travel by bus, click on a blue bus stop, then click on Take the bus. This costs three Paradimes.
• Explore the world and meet new Parafolks to build new relationships.
  • Zoom out all the way to see several lots, then zoom in on the location you wish to visit.

Don’t waste money too carelessly, as you do have bills to pay.

4. Managing Needs as a Beginner

Your needs are represented by this UI

You have four main Needs to manage for all Parafolks in Paralives, along with some Needs tied to specific personalities and life stages. Prioritize Hunger and Sleep as the drawbacks of not doing so is deadly. Bathroom and Hygiene are still useful for maintaining a good mood.

• Hunger: Get your Parafolk to eat something before they starve.
• Sleep: Get your Parafolk to sleep when they’re tired.
• Bathroom: Get your Parafolk to use the bathroom, or they will embarrass themselves and lower their Hygiene.
• Hygiene: Get your Parafolk to wash themselves, as they will become stinky otherwise.

Optional Needs have their own requirements, like Jesters wanting to have Fun or Good at Being Alone Parafolks wanting to be alone for Me Time. Babies and toddlers have their own separate needs that beginners ideally avoid for now.