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
(Image credit: EA)
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.
