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I've just opened up The Sims 4 for the first time in three years, and I feel like I'm getting reacquainted with an old friend who's gone through a lot of changes. Just in Create a Sim alone, I feel like I'm discovering a whole new game. A tutorial pops up telling me that I have the option to complete a multiple choice quiz that will determine the aspirations of my Sim for me based on the answers I give. That's certainly new… at least to me, it is. When I then begin exploring all of the options to bring my Sim to life, I'm delighted to find that it's way more inclusive than I recall it being, with the option to set romantic boundaries, add top surgery scars, wear hearing aids, and choose from a variety of vitiligo skin details.
They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but in the case of my unexpected three year hiatus from Maxis' life sim, it's really allowing me to appreciate how far The Sims 4 has come since I've been away.
Playing in Pleasantview
The Sims has always been such a big part of my life, from the core series to stellar off-shoots like The Sims Medieval and The Urbz. Like so many people in their early 30s, I grew up playing The Sims. I was at just the right age when the first game launched in 2000, and it felt like a dream come true that only got better over time. Bringing in memorable expansions like Hot Date, Vacation, Superstar, and Makin' Magic, it soon became my everything. Fast forward a few years later, and I can still vividly remember when The Sims 2 was first announced, promising a shiny new incarnation that blew my tiny mind.
One of my fondest memories was when I got my hands on the The Sims 2 CD-Rom when it launched in 2004. My heart raced with excitement as I waited for it to install, studying every inch of the game's box and manual to distract myself from the progress bar on my computer screen. I got just about every expansion going for the second entry over several birthdays and Christmases until The Sims 3 came around. Just like the games before it, the third installment consumed me, with its more open neighborhoods, the introduction of cars, and a myriad of new expansions that always take me back to my late teens and early 20s.
Given my longstanding history with The Sims, you may be questioning why I'd take such a long break from The Sims 4. Well, my PC unfortunately kicked the bucket in 2022, putting a stop to any Simming goodness I could have had until this past Christmas when my dad worked his magic, bringing the machine back to life at long last (thanks, dad). But even before my PC called it quits, my enthusiasm for The Sims 4 had admittedly already started to ebb.
I picked it up at launch in 2014, and it initially felt very much like it was taking me back to square one in a shiny new coat. I'd gotten accustomed to The Sims 3's more open neighborhoods, and with so many expansions and additions, its predecessor instantly felt more restrictive and bare bones. Back in the day, the base game didn't even have the toddler life stage, but over the course of several updates, I started to enjoy it more and more.
Despite its many improvements over the years, The Sims 4 signaled a big change in my relationship with the series. I used to feel like I was so embedded in the Sims community – always staying up to date with the latest additions and news, and investing in just about every expansion going for each entry. But gone were the Sims 2 and 3 days where I had more free time and fewer responsibilities, and as life pulled me away, I fell behind on all things Sims 4-shaped. I started to feel like I would never be able to catch up, and when I lost access entirely, the prospect of stepping back into it was overwhelming to say the least.
Returning to Willow Creek
But it felt wrong, almost alien, to be so out of the loop on a series I'd played for most of my life, and when I couldn't play it anymore, it felt like there was a Sims-shaped hole in my life that nothing could really fill in quite the same way. With every expansion, update, and pack that was announced, the FOMO would only build. I felt like I was an outsider, watching over a series I could no longer be a part of. Out of desperation, I even gave the free console base game a whirl, but just couldn't click with the controls.
So, as soon as my PC was back in action, the first thing I did was download The Sims 4. I'm still very behind in terms of expansions, with Discover University being the last addition I spent money on before life got in the way and my unfortunate PC mishap drew everything to a halt. But it's been a real treat to discover all of the ways the base game has changed in that time. Alongside the suite of new options in create-a-sim, there's also interactions I'd never seen before, with small talk grouping conversation starters like "Get to know", "ask about career", and "brighten day", while the romantic interactions have been separated out with affection marked out from actions of physical intimacy – a nice touch that feels more mindful of the way people may want to play or develop relationships.
There are lots of little changes like the above that just make the base experiences of The Sims 4 feel more user friendly, welcoming, and better overall. Being away for a long stretch of time has given me a unique perspective on how far it has come in just three years, and while I still have a lot of catching up to do – especially in terms of expansions – it really does feel good to be back. I may not be as involved in the world of The Sims as I used to be way back when, but all of the updates I've missed have made The Sims 4 a game I want to keep on revisiting in the future.
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