The Sims 5 is still a way away from release, but fans have already started compiling their wishlists for the next installment of the life sim.
The Sims 5 is officially in development - announced in October 2022, the next iteration of EA's life sim is currently codenamed 'Project Rene'. Whatever it ends up actually being called, developer Maxis has promised that this will be the "new future" for the series and that it will "reimagine The Sims you know and love with new ways to play."
Following on from the apparent top-secret The Sims 5 playtest happening last month, one Reddit user has shared screenshots of said playtest which has led fans to start discussing what they like and don't like about the current build of the game, as well as what they're hoping Maxis will introduce this time around.
Fans already have quite high expectations. There appears to be something of a divide, with some hoping that things don't change too much from The Sims 4, and others who want Maxis to completely rebuild the world while still taking influence from the likes of The Sims 3. Some fans are also hoping that The Sims heads in the same direction as fellow life sim Paralives, which The Sims 5 currently has a lot of similarities with.
One of the main things that fans appear to be keen on is for Maxis to adopt the open-world style gameplay that The Sims 3 had. There are even some players who have said that they purposely skipped moving onto The Sims 4 after 3 due to it ditching the open-world style. It's not just The Sims 3 that fans are hoping to see more of in The Sims 5 though. As one fan commented on the Reddit post, they're hoping for "the open world and customizability of 3 with the visual appeal of 4," as well as " the lore of 2."
There's also a divide amongst fans about whether the current build of The Sims 5 looks more cartoony or realistic than EA's previous The Sims games. The majority of people are saying it looks cartoony and that it isn't a good thing. But as pointed out by another fan in the comments: "The game is in very early development and it’ll improve," before referring to leaked photos of The Sims 4 as an example.
Since we're still so early in The Sims 5 development, it's way too soon to tell what Maxis is planning to do right now. All we can do is keep our fingers crossed from now until release, just to be safe.
