9 Things The Sims 4 Has Ruined

Depending on who you talk to, everyone has slightly different perspectives on The Sims 4.

If it’s your first Sims game, you may think the game is an innovative life simulator with an engaging cartoon art style. But for those who started out on the previous three games (excluding the console and handheld versions as they differed so wildly from the main games), The Sims 4 is a lacklustre cash-grab just trying to milk the cow-plant. From selling previously built-in features in £40 Expansion Packs to shamelessly cramming product placement down our throats, The Sims 4 has been a real pain in the Plumbob.

Whilst EA have definitely raked in record amounts of money from this series, they have lost all but a penny of their good standing among the Sims community (alongside other communities). They’ve only just started to climb their way back to ‘just above terrible’ with some hot fixes and patches that added essential game features, but to the majority this isn’t enough to forgive the seven years of mediocrity.

If you hate or love The Sims 4, there’s no doubt that there are some things we would like to change.

Creating stories was such a prevalent feature in The Sims 2 and 3 so much so that the spin off games for consoles were even based around them (for example, The Sims 2 Castaway for the PS2 which is a hidden gem).

The Sims 2 was revered for how it told the story of Bella Goth, a woman abducted by aliens under suspicious circumstances. Or Brandi Broke, trying to raise her family alone after the suspicious death of her husband, Skip. The Sims 3 continued this lore by presenting an earlier world with a young version of the characters from The Sims 2. The Sims 4 has done away with the established continuity in the base game, in favour of adding characters back in years later in paid DLC like the Pleasant sisters in The Sims 4 University.

The Sims 4 has tried its hand at story DLC multiple times, ranging from mildly intriguing to out-right insulting product placement (we'll get to that). Jungle Adventure being the first attempt at a 'story' based pack showed exploration and unlockables as well as temples only slightly resembling those of the mind-blowing Sims 3 World Adventures. Strangerville - that many mistook for Strangetown, where you can mysteriously find the alienated Bella in The Sims 2 - was their next attempt. Admittedly, it was more clearly a tie in for Stranger Things; salt in the wound for the classic fans. The final nail in this lore-based coffin was the Star Wars DLC Journey to Batuu, wherein they added an alien world, in the midst of a rebellion mind you, as a holiday location.

Not somewhere I'd like to sightsee, unless it was at a Disney park.