It’s kind of hard to believe that The Sims franchise has been around for over 14 years now. EA Maxis’ life simulator has went from being a curious oddball on the PC to one of the biggest franchises in the industry. Innovation has been the key to success and The Sims 4 looks to continue that trend, as the latest iteration of the series is introducing several new features, including a new emotion-based mechanic, which is spotlighted in a new trailer.
While the franchise has always had characters able to explore a wide range of emotions, The Sims 4 is the first one in the series to really dig deep into the emotions of each sim. Sims will be able to jump from incredibly upbeat to crying in the bathtub sad and everything in between depending on their traits and personality.
Sims will also react in different ways to each other depending on their emotional states during certain interactions. For instance, in the trailer we see a Sim get embarrassed by walking in on their son taking a shirtless selfie. Another clip from the trailer features a Sim getting uncomfortable with the creepy flirtations of a man. EA also revealed that controlling emotions is “a powerful tool that can be used to a player’s advantage to build skills quicker and reap new rewards”
Additional upgrades being introduced in The Sims 4 include improvements to the Create A Sim and Build mode, as well as the ability for Sims to multitask and the possibility of dying via laughing too much. I’m glad to see things haven’t changed too much with the franchise.
As someone who hasn’t played a Sims game since the debacle known as The Sims Online, I’m still pleased to see that EA Maxis is still introducing new things to the franchise. With the type of gameplay the series is known for, it would have been easy for the company to churn out the same thing over and over again. However, with meaningful additions such as the new emotions mechanic, the company is proving that they are just as committed to the series as ever.
The Sims 4 is currently scheduled for release on Windows PC on September 2. An OS X version of the title is also scheduled to be released at some point in the future.
