Video Games

Life By You removed sickness due to COVID

"We don't want people to see horrible things happen to Grandma."

Kirk McKeand

Life By You removed sickness due to COVID
Life By You removed sickness due to COVID /

Life By You is the next life sim by one of the visionaries behind The Sims. It features an open world and enough customization options to make your head spin, but there’s one thing is doesn’t feature: death by sickness or “unfortunate means”.

“We actually removed all of that due to COVID,” Paradox Tectonic boss Rod Humble explains. “So we had the idea of sickness and death by unfortunate means, but it just didn't really sit right. And it's not that game. The game doesn't come with any violence in it.

It does come with nudity and romantic relationships. And that's really more about the emphasis of that kind of storytelling, the important stuff. I think there are a lot of games out there that already do violence and the dark side a lot better. We're also life sim, and you can make Grandma and your family. We don't want people to see horrible things happen to Grandma. That's not cool. So yeah, we've tried to make it as nice as we can.”

Natural death is a part of Life By You, but like everything else in the game, it’s a choice. When your death day comes, you can just tell the Reaper to come back another time and carry on.

If you want more details about the game, read our big Life By You interview. 

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Kirk McKeand
KIRK MCKEAND

Kirk McKeand is the Content Director for GLHF.  A games media writer and editor from Lincoln, UK, he won a Games Media Award in 2014 in the Rising Star category. He has also been nominated for two Features Writer awards. He was also recognized in MCV's 30 Under 30 list in 2014. His favorite games are The Witcher 3, The Last of Us Part 2, Dishonored 2, Deus Ex, Bloodborne, Suikoden 2, and Final Fantasy 7.  You can buy Kirk McKeand's book, The History of the Stealth Game, in most bookstores in the US and UK.  With a foreword written by Arkane's Harvey Smith, The History of the Stealth Game dives deep into the shadows of game development, uncovering the surprising stories behind some of the industry's most formative video games.  He has written for IGN, Playboy, Vice, Eurogamer, Edge, Official PlayStation Magazine, Games Master, Official Xbox Magazine, USA Today's ForTheWin, Digital Spy, The Telegraph, International Business Times, and more.  Kirk was previously the Editor-in-Chief at TheGamer and Deputy Editor at VG247. These days he works as the Content Director for GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage, serving media partners across the globe.  You can check out Kirk McKeand's MuckRack profile for more.  Email: kirk.mckeand@glhf.gg

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