While various packs and kits have added new features to The Sims 4 gameplay since 2014, family-orientated gameplay was largely neglected during updates to The Sims 4. The Sims 4: Growing Together didn't just introduce new family events and features - it made a huge series of changes that revolutionizes gameplay.
Simmers now have new milestone memory systems, family dynamics, compatibility systems and infant quirks. This doesn't even cover new items and extra perks that The Sims: Growing Together gifted Simmers this year to make gameplay simultaneously more spontaneous, exciting and enjoyable.
10 Self Discovery
In a game where autonomy can be switched off in Settings, The Sims 4 is not known for Sims with their own complex personalities. Sims are famously prone to clumsiness, accidental fires and mayhem when left unattended, leading players to strictly design and monitor their Sim's lives to keep them from self-sabotaging. Temptations to micromanage and limited traits made Sim's personalities feel like carbon copies of each other.
The Sims 4: Growing Together takes massive strides in personalizing Sims with Self Discovery. A minor addition with unique effects, Self Discovery causes Sims to independently discover likes, dislikes or traits during gameplay (with players being able to opt in or out). Habitually exercising might trigger Sims to become ‘Active’ but Sims can repair every appliance and still have a strong dislike for ‘Handiness’. Sims can gain a total of six traits each via Self Discovery from ‘Jealous’ to ‘Squeamish’.
9 Childhood Aspirations
Childhood should be joyous - but some Simmers find child Sims boring. Not as demanding as infants and toddlers or as unique as teenagers, child Sims are often neglected by players and The Sims 4 team. Content for children (outfits, hairstyles, aspirations, skills) is rarely updated beyond occasional kits and childhood can easily become a blur of perfected homework routines, as the four child aspirations appear unimaginative and unrewarding.
The Sims 4: Growing Together adds four new child Aspirations, encouraging a well-rounded skillset for Playtime Captains or Slumber Party Animals. New goal-orientated aspirations reinvent stale aspects of childhood in The Sims 4 and encourages players to invest in child Sims instead of apathetically skipping to teenagehood.
8 Work Rivals And Midlife Crises
The Sims 4: Growing Together introduced the adult-only Midlife Crisis which runs alongside pre-selected Aspirations, setting the player a list of achievable goals. The four crisis types (Adventure, Success, Creativity or Relationships) can be ignored or completed to discover new Likes and Hobbies.
If players thought they could escape unfair redundancy in The Sims 4, think again. Working Sims may now be randomly fired if they don't save their jobs by keeping work performance high. The Burnout System warns Sims to avoid over-working with ‘Dazed’ moodlets and burned out Sims will struggle to get promoted. Randomly selected townie Sims may become work rivals, blocking a Sim’s career progression unless the rivalry is resolved.
7 Social Events
The Baby Shower event celebrates new babies caused by pregnancy, adoption or the new 'Science Baby' option, with cute, fun goals and interactions like ‘guess the baby’s future career’ and ‘suggest a baby name’. Family reunions can be costly. 200 Simoleons to reunite with relatives that Sims usually see for free. However, it does encourage taking family photos and enjoying family dinners.
A Stay Over is the first time that any Sim can be officially invited to a sleepover with sleeping bags, suitcases, snacks and stories. Missing are the sleepover traditions of prank calls, scary movies, hot chocolate and teddies.
6 New Items
The Keepsake Box debuted in The Sims 4: Growing Together as an elder-only inventory item to carry beloved objects to pass onto younger relatives. Elders use the box to change Family Dynamics by pondering family-centered thoughts.
A childhood staple for many players, Sims can build a tree house where children play make-believe games like house or hold sleepovers. Tree houses can be decorated and enjoyed by all ages (possibly a little too much by adult Sims who use tree houses as a Woohoo location). The new water park feature, Splash Pads, expands upon beaches and swimming pools and child Sims can finally teach how to ride bikes by caregivers.
5 Infant And Toddler Quirks
One unpredictable, sweet and challenging gameplay additions are infant and toddler quirks. Randomly assigned, quirks are discovered throughout both life stages, making each infant and toddler unique (and inconvenient) in their own special way. Some quirks are sweet, like ‘Little Babbler’ for happy vocal infants, ‘Loves being held’ or ‘Self Soother’. Some are hygiene hazards causing infants to spit, hiccup, sneeze or have diaper accidents.
Challenging quirks like ‘Snuggly Sleeper’ are cute but logistically tricky, causing infants to only like sleeping in their parent's arms. Other infants may hate being held at all. Toddlers can be ‘Aggressive’, prone to biting and hitting, bringing the real life horrors of parenthood to Sims gameplay.
4 Family Dynamics
Ever wanted a fractured family dynamic with Sims being estranged from their parents, feuding siblings or raging in-laws? Simmers can now pre-determine Sim’s relationships with every family member in CAS or discover for themselves during gameplay. Parents, grandparents or siblings can now be ‘Supportive’ to younger Sims, showering them with praise and compliments regularly. ‘Permissive’ parents ignore bad behavior from child Sims, enabling them to become uncontrollable brats.
‘Strict’ Parents are quick to reprimand bad behavior, stressing out oppressed child Sims. The ‘Difficult’ dynamic creates a toxic environment of spontaneous insults and meanness. Family dynamics provide opportunities for nuanced storytelling during gameplay. Experiment by creating socially awkward Sims who cope with their family via humor by being a ‘Jokester’. Or maybe players want to recreate the hostile atmosphere at Privet Drive by choosing the ‘Difficult’ family dynamic for Sim Harry Potter and the Dursleys. Stop Sim families from acting like roommates and add some authenticity to awkward Sim Thanksgiving dinners.
3 Conversation Topics
Players seeking more depth to their Sims can finally customize whether Sims prefer small talk over deep conversation, or if a shy Sim hates compliments. Sims will be offended by conversation topics they dislike and easily charmed by suitable conversations. A subtle addition, conversation topic preferences allows players to create more challenging situations by choosing conflicting conversation topics.
Perhaps one Sim loves silly behavior but hates potty humor. Perhaps a Sim loves flirting but hates physical intimacy. Or maybe a Sim despises cheesy pickup lines but craves physical touch. Everyone has their own love language.
2 Sim Characteristics And Compatibility
How does a player know if Sim characters actually like each other, or if they would be happy married? Or if someone like Mortimer Goth should be friends with Nancy Landgraab? Throughout The Sims franchise, Sim relationships were often forced by players who knew if they spammed enough flirty interactions, their lonely Sim could meet a NPC, fall in love, get married and have a child on the way by dinner time. Who could tell if Sims were in love or just distant roommates that sometimes kiss?
The Sims 4: Growing together introduced a huge step with Sim Characteristics and Sim Compatibility, making it clearer who should hang out with whom. In CAS, players can individually select preferences to determine if their Sim tolerates other Sims with specific personality traits, like ‘Funny', 'Romantic' or ‘Argumentative Sims’. This revolutionary change informs the new Sim Compatibility system, where Sims can have ‘Awful’ or Amazing Compatibility’ with anyone they meet, based on their personalities. Players can finally pair up Sims and NPCs who genuinely like each other based on Sim Compatibility. No more blindly picking partners and friends based on convenience.
1 Milestones
Players often looked for a paper trail of memories to commemorate the busy lives of their Sims. From infancy, Sims can track their Milestones from first smile, first steps, best friends, first love, first job and everything in between.
Players can pursue uncompleted gray milestones or disregard them as experiences their Sim doesn’t need. Ticking off Milestones are rewarded with potential opportunities in other life stages and negative milestones cause negative moodlets throughout a Sim’s life. Every memory counts, making player’s choices more meaningful and fruitful in gameplay.
The Sims 5 is in development.