You have most likely seen it by now for those who’re a fan of the life sim style, however The Sims 4 has been doing the rounds for a lengthy time. The unique The Sims stepped apart to make manner for The Sims 2 after simply 4 years; The Sims 2 yielded to The Sims 3 after 5; and the hole between The Sims 3 and The Sims 4 was one other 5 years.
However right this moment, The Sims 4 celebrates 10 years not solely post-release however in energetic improvement: the newest growth pack for the sport got here out simply 5 weeks in the past, and EA have introduced plans for a couple of dozen extra updates — each free and as paid DLC — earlier than the top of 2024.
When you’d instructed us a decade in the past that The Sims 4 would nonetheless be the present technology of the franchise by its tenth birthday, I doubt many people would have believed you. Not solely was EA’s launch cycle for the sequence very well-established by that time, however with one of the best will on this planet, it is an odd place in The Sims’ historical past to decide on to park up.
The sport acquired off to a rocky begin amongst each critics and gamers, possible because of being considerably overhauled in simply 18 months pre-launch to take away key shared options from 2013’s SimCity reboot that proved immensely unpopular. Whereas it wasn’t precisely a catastrophe, preliminary opinions did symbolize the low level in a gradual decline from the sequence’ heyday, which noticed each The Sims and The Sims 2 garner common evaluation scores comfortably within the 90s, The Sims 3 drop just a few marks to hold round within the 80s, and The Sims 4 obtain a strong however unremarkable 70-something common.
However after all, The Sims 4 you will obtain for those who begin enjoying right this moment will probably be considerably totally different from the launch expertise — even for those who ignore a decade’s price of standard paid DLC releases and focus solely on the vanilla base recreation. Regardless of the more and more eye-watering price ticket of the complete product, you must give The Sims 4 its dues as the primary Sims recreation to provide away something substantial without spending a dime — as much as and together with the bottom recreation itself, which went F2P on all platforms simply after the sport’s eighth anniversary in 2022.
On the time of writing, 167 base recreation updates — barely multiple per thirty days since launch — have tweaked and twisted the unique launch into one thing nonetheless recognisable as The Sims 4 because it again in September 2014, however much more detailed and sophisticated, with some really fairly drastic modifications to the way in which it seems and feels.
I think that there is a shared root purpose each for these main modifications over time and the title’s surprising longevity: the way in which that video games are bought, delivered, and monetised has modified considerably over the previous decade-and-a-half, and The Sims 4 was the primary recreation within the sequence to grasp that it was launching right into a market the place most gamers can be consistently linked to the web as a matter after all. The Sims 3 realised this a few years into its lifespan, changing into the primary recreation within the sequence to introduce digital-only premium DLC, and certainly went a bit overboard with the pricing of these add-ons. The Sims 4 might have in the reduction of on the worst excesses — like $5 haircuts paid for with in-game currencies transformed from real-world cash. Nevertheless it however exhibits its creators’ consciousness that it exists in an always-online, digital-first ecosystem that is fairly totally different from the sequence’ roots.
There are positives and negatives to this, after all. Gone are the unhealthy previous days of getting to attend six months and fork out the price of one other full-price growth pack in order for you the repair for a bug that shipped with the final growth pack. Nevertheless it’s additionally lowered the strain on EA to ship one thing that is at the least mostly-working on launch day — and, whereas I do assume that recency bias can partly account for why The Sims 4 launches really feel buggier than in earlier generations, I might additionally sadly level to the truth that the QA groups credited on Sims DLC releases have shrunk dramatically over the previous decade, from dozens per new title to as few as six even on full-sized growth packs.
If The Sims 4 hadn’t taken benefit of the chances supplied by being live-service-adjacent, it would not simply really feel creaky by now, however historical. Having the ability to tinker with the bottom recreation indefinitely has allowed the builders to take what was at launch a relatively by-the-numbers launch for the franchise and switch it into the primary Sims recreation to characteristic gender and sexual orientation customisation, and beauty choices permitting for extra lifelike Black hair types, vitiligo, and medical wearables, to quote only a few examples of modifications delivered to Create-A-Sim alone over the previous few years.
Even setting apart these worthy efforts to make this life sim really feel extra lifelike for everyone, The Sims 4 has had moments of brilliance, even when they’ve typically been buried amongst underwhelmed reactions to this technology of the franchise as a complete. It is the primary Sims recreation to permit upcycling, for instance, or to characteristic social media as a profession path — a novel reflection on ongoing social modifications and shifting priorities over its longer-than-usual lifespan.
On a barely extra meta stage, the latest introduction of Cupid’s Nook — a Tinder-inspired relationship app included in Lovestruck, the most recent growth pack — has been heralded as one of the best use of multiplayer that the franchise has but seen, due to the truth that different gamers’ creations can often and unexpectedly pop up amongst your Sims’ potential matches. It was a characteristic that EA did not promote forward of time, however most gamers have been pleasantly stunned to study that Captain Jack Sparrow, Shrek, Giga Squidward, et al. have been on the market searching for love, similar as anyone else.
When The Sims 5 arrives it’ll virtually actually characteristic multiplayer — possible extra within the invite-a-friend vein of Animal Crossing: New Horizons than an MMO. Nonetheless although, it is good to see EA experimenting with the system forward of time in a non-intrusive manner that almost all gamers of The Sims 4 appear to have the ability to get behind.
The Sims and The Sims 2 are, sadly, now successfully abandonware; whereas The Sims 3 stays absolutely supported by EA on digital storefronts, however hasn’t obtained any content material updates since 2014. Mission Rene (believed however not technically confirmed to be the long-awaited The Sims 5) has been very quiet recently, and whereas rumours of its secret cancellation are most likely being exaggerated, it does seem to be there is a good bit of turmoil happening behind the scenes: what with the departure of long-time Sims producer and unique recreation director Grant Rodiek in January, and the leak of an enormous chunk of early playtest information within the spring.
So The Sims 4 has been the general public face of the franchise for a full decade now, and this seems unlikely to vary anytime quickly — particularly since, by all accounts, The Sims 4 will not be retired as soon as Mission Rene finally releases, however is deliberate to proceed alongside it in some capability. Once more, this may seem to be a missed alternative by EA to place essentially the most troubled mainline recreation on the franchise’s docket to relaxation, draw a line underneath its always-uneven reception, and attempt to transfer on. Nevertheless it’s price remembering that that is nonetheless a qualitative evaluation, whereas the 70 million-odd individuals who’ve performed the sport over the previous decade inform a distinct story.
And, as I bear in mind very properly, The Sims 3 obtained related ranges of participant backlash throughout its energetic improvement, however has since turn into extraordinarily beloved in hindsight. I do not really assume it will occur with The Sims 4 as soon as it is lastly outmoded by one other title — be that Mission Rene or a competitor from one other studio, like inZOI or Paralives. However then, I might’ve mentioned the identical factor about The Sims 3 ten years in the past.
In actuality, it is nigh-on unimaginable to attract a satisfying conclusion from a retrospective have a look at a recreation that hasn’t gone anyplace and remains to be altering on a regular basis. Nearly the one factor that is clear proper now’s that much more distance goes to be required earlier than we will correctly assess the legacy of The Sims 4 on the franchise and its group.