“I’m just sitting and crying”: fans were even more upset by the cancellation of Life by You when they saw previously unpublished screenshots of the game

The unexpected cancellation of Life by You was already painful for fans of life simulators, and the recently discovered unpublished screenshots of the game were just additional salt in an open wound.

Image source: Paradox interactive

Life by You was developed by Paradox Tectonic under the direction of former The Sims curator Rod Humble. Early Access was delayed three times, and Paradox eventually canceled the project because it felt it couldn’t live up to its expectations.

The aforementioned unpublished Life by You screenshots were discovered by a SimMattically enthusiast in the portfolio of the game’s ex-artists: Richard Khoo, Eric Maki and Chris Lewis.

The screenshots show off Life by You’s character editor, as well as more visually impressive outdoor spaces. As PC Gamer points out, many of these shots look even better than those officially released by Paradox.

This paradox did not pass by the commentators of the SimMattically entry. Some were genuinely surprised by how well the game looked, which made its cancellation even more bittersweet. “I just sit and cry,” admits ElektroTekCity.

At the announcement of the cancellation of Life by You, Paradox noted that the game had been in development “for a long time”, and the transfers led to only “minor improvements.” The publisher considered the path to the desired level of quality “too long and uncertain.”

At the same time, according to former Paradox Tectonic game designer Willem Delventhal, Life by You exceeded internal goals, and the team was never given any clear reasons for the cancellation.