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The Sims 4's latest expansion pack Growing Together launches on March 16, and it adds far more to the beloved life simulator than infants alone. From new furniture, Create-A-Sim assets, and relationship mechanics that will dictate your Sims' interactions, the expansion pack serves as a companion piece to a free base-game update that will be patched into all copies of The Sims 4 on March 14.
For fans of realistic gameplay who enjoyed attending high school graduation in a recent expansion pack, Growing Together will add comprehensive new systems to deepen your Sims' interpersonal relationships. Elders can choose a favorite grandchild to give treats to, new life state infants will develop personality traits that shape their growth, and those innate likes and dislikes we saw added a couple of years ago will actually matter now that Sims will have to have compatible interests if they want to become friends or love interests. Family dynamics will be easier to work into your stories, as every member of the family will have a more defined role to play in it.
These are just the highlights of what you can expect from the latest Sims 4 content. Here's a breakdown of what's new in the free update and what's only available in the expansion pack.
The Sims 4: Growing Together and free update content
Base game changes
Infants will not be restricted to owners of the Growing Together expansion. A free update is coming to all owners of the base Sims 4 game on March 14, and it includes infants and their respective CAS items. The new life state, which will fit into a Sim's life span between the newborn and toddler stages, is described by EA as being "incredibly reliant upon older members of the family". Unlike how you can pop some food into a toddler's inventory and teach them to use the potty on their own, essentially creating a self-sufficient tot, infants will need your constant attention. The free update will also come with a variety of new cribs, high chairs, bassinets, and infant or toddler-specific CAS and build mode features. There will even be some cribs that can be turned into toddler beds when your infants age up, so you won't need to waste precious Simoleons on new items.
As a new life state, infants also have six personality types and 18 quirks that can be chosen or triggered as you play. An example of this would be the fussy eater quirk that can arise when your child tries a new food. These all help to make your infants feel more like real babies, responding to their environment as you play.
In terms of how old your infants will be compared to newborns and toddlers, it will vary depending on whether or not you have Growing Together. For base-game owners, infants will be around eight months old in terms of real life baby habits. This means lots of crawling about right off the bat.
In Growing Together, infants will gradually get bigger and age up progressively from two months to 10 months old as they move toward their birthdays. This growth will be reflected in their skills, attitudes, and independence before they age up to become toddlers, so you can expect a fair amount of tummy time before they're ready to crawl.
What's new in Growing Together
As well as the above base game additions, you can purchase Growing Together. This pack enhances the base game experience by adding more nuanced lifestyle tweaks, and these don't only pertain to infants. Here's everything we know so far about the content of the incoming expansion pack:
- New map: San Sequoia, a suburban coastal town with smaller neighborhoods, beaches, and leafy parks
- Baby changing stations are back, last seen in The Sims 2 and 3
- A Sims 4 baby carrier to carry your infant around with you for easier caregiving
- New baby shower event type
- Sims 4 Growing Together infant milestones and unlockable rewards
- Four new child aspirations
- Treehouses
- New interactions between adults and children, including teaching them to ride a bike and giving grandchildren some treats
- Friendship bracelet-making
- Social compatibility influenced by likes, dislikes, and personality traits; displayed as puzzle piece icons in the friends panel
- Nursery items: bassinets, toys, llamas, sensory toys, baby gates
- "Have Science baby"; two Sims who are at least friends, no matter their gender, can have a baby together (no pregnancy involved, just select the interaction and the baby will arrive)
- Birthmarks and stretch marks
- Select whether a Sim can produce milk or not in Create-A-Sim
- Various inter-pack features, e.g. knitting baby clothes if you have Nifty Knitting
Growing Together launches on March 16th on all platforms, and can be pre-ordered from the EA store for £34.99 / US$39.99. If you've had any issues getting then new stuff then we can tell you how to fix The Sims 4 Growing Together not downloading.
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