I have so much love for The Sims 4 that it often borders on frustration. Don't get me wrong: when the game is good, it's brilliant, but with all the bugs and glitches I run into in an average playthrough, I've learned to take most of them on the chin after whining about them on the internet.
Nobody is perfect, and buggy games are evidence of that – even when it comes to the most beloved life sim franchise ever. But with one of the ickiest Sims 4 bugs ever rearing its ugly head once again in The Sims 4 Lovestruck, I'm getting a bit nostalgic for all the glitched-out messes that came before. If you're fancying a frankly agonizing trip down memory lane, join me as I recount the five worst bugs ever to grace The Sims 4 in its ten short years of existence.
The incest bug
Affected packs: The Sims 4: High School Years; The Sims 4: Lovestruck
If you've found that the latest update has given your Sim some uh, less than appropriate feelings for their family members, you might be having flashbacks to July 2022. For the blissfully unaware, the High School Years expansion pack brought with it a host of new systems. The fashion-forward Trendii app was not the offender, but something about the free base game update that landed just before the pack's launch had some players noting their family members acting… a little strange, let's just say. From elders wanting to date their grandsons to daughters asking parents to the prom via inappropriately romantic promposals, it all got a bit too "in the family" for the community's liking. Thankfully this issue was quickly squashed, and I'm sure EA is on the case to clean up the mess it made with Lovestruck already.
The insulting meanie bug
Affected packs: The Sims 4: Lovestruck
While we're on the subject of The Sims 4's latest, you can add extreme mood swings to the list of bugs alongside all that incest. Lovestruck allows us Simmers to create more meaningful romantic stories for our Sims, including setting their romantic and physical boundaries, NPCs being able to ask you out on dates, and turning those dates into fully-fledged outings. However, it was on one of these (supposedly) romantic ventures that I ran into the "overly mean" bug that is totally spoiling the mood for Simmers everywhere. Look, I know my Sim has the Mean trait already, and sure she was a werewolf on a date with a vampire, but no sooner had she sat down at the dinner table to offer a friendly hello, her date immediately declared her his sworn enemy. I know it's not just me; Simmers have reported unbidden insults flying left and right in the latest pack, as well as NPCs taking friendly interactions as acts of war. I can only hope that this bug gets fixed ASAP. My little lupine Sim deserves to find her Fated Mate, and right now, even Moonwood Mill's resident meaniepants Greg would find her unbearable.
Create-A-Horror story
Affected packs: Sims 4: Werewolves; Sims 4: Growing Together
It's happened to us all: you're in Create-A-Sim, mind your own business, when your Sim's face suddenly caves in on itself. You let out a sigh, take a screenshot for Reddit, and restart your computer. The truth is that CAS bugs are so common these days that I can't remember where they began. One Redditor's hilarious werewolf glitch that saw their lycanthrope resembling a 2004-era emo band had me reflecting on my own shocking creations back when the pack launched, but there must have been others. Concave-headed infants after Growing Together added a new life state? Toddlers with "melted heads" or gangly protrusions resembling spider legs? Overly-sensitive detail sliders disfiguring your Sim beyond recognition in detail edit mode? Simmers have put up with a lot over the years, and I wonder if we will ever see a non-buggy Create-A-Sim at this late stage in this generation's life cycle.
Not being able to find the dining room
Affected packs: All
This is less of a bug, and more of a persistent bone I have to pick with EA. In all my years of playing The Sims 4, I cannot recall a time when my Sim families would willingly sit at the dinner table and share a meal together. I haven tried everything, from ensuring that the dining room is right inside the kitchen to deleting all other chairs or sofas on the lot. Lo and behold, it seems my Sims would rather stand next to their housemates, snarf down their lunch, and leave the plates on the floor. Sims would even rather sit on the sofa and stare at a switched off television sometimes, or sit on their beds all by themselves, than use the table and chairs I've purchased for them with all those hard-won Simoleons manifested by way of the motherlode cheat. Why do I even bother? The only logical excuse is that EA hates me and wishes for me to suffer, so until this pathfinding bug – or is it technically now a feature? – is fixed, I'm protesting by making all my ungrateful Sims live on empty lots instead.
Unhappy couple bug
Affected packs: The Sims 4: My Wedding Stories
What better way to round off this list than with perhaps the buggiest Sims 4 pack release of all-time? My Wedding Stories launched in 2022, and as someone who much prefers occult or story-based expansions, it's one of the few I deliberately missed that year. Almost as soon as it was out in the wild, however, I began to hear some perplexing user reports. Guests were arriving to weddings improperly dressed, shoeless and bare-chested in their pajamas or beachwear. Cake toppers were floating, kiss animations didn't work, and the wedding cakes decayed too rapidly, becoming spoiled and inedible in a matter of in-game seconds before the couple even said "I do." It sounded like the definition of a broken release, and although EA was quick to release a patch to smooth it over, I can't help but feel I dodged a massive bullet by giving the pack a miss.
The Sims 4 Lovestruck's dating app is already more chaotic than Tinder
