The Sims has been an influential sandbox series throughout the last twenty years, playable over a variety of platforms. Developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts, this series has captured the hearts of many who have sat for hours at their PC or console, directing the lives of virtual people and curating unique lives around them.
Although The Sims has been around for a long time, there has been a noticeable absence of a new title over the past seven years - longer than any previous interval between a current and upcoming game. Recently there have been rumors about an approaching successor to The Sims 4, and when The Sims 5 does get released, however far away that may be, there are certain things fans will want to see changed based on complaints about the last entry.
Elements That The Sims 5 Should Avoid
One element of The Sims 4 that many players were put off by was its lack of an open-world map. Its predecessor, The Sims 3, was the first in the series to include an open world. To later remove the feature seemed like a regression in game mechanics, however there were some obvious benefits to Maxis’ decision when excluding an open world: reducing lag and potential glitches chief among them. It is down to personal preference whether players would prefer a vast open world with a bit of lag or flawless limited exploration. Either way, The Sims 5 should avoid adopting The Sims 4’s approach to free roaming with no other options.
Another absent feature in The Sims 4 is a multiplayer or online mode. In a world of Internet connectivity, it is more expected that games have a multiplayer mode than ever before. This applies more to games that have been released in the last few years, which may explain why The Sims 4 lacks such a feature due to its release in 2014. After such a long silence from EA, players could be forgiven for expecting The Sims 5 to have more than The Sims 4’s single-player mode. Perhaps it could include something like an online free-roam world where players socialise their Sims with one another.
When The Sims 4 released, the base game did not include toddlers, which was a shock to many. Other missing, iconic features included swimming pools, a staple piece of architecture seen in all previous titles. Although both features were later added with improved detail, the lack of content upon release foreshadowed a shaky future for The Sims 4. Maxis should make sure to avoid this mistake for The Sims 5, by making sure the base game includes all the things players loved about any of its past entries. This means not releasing the bare minimum in hopes that players will stock up on expansion packs to make the experience more fulfilling.
Whenever The Sims 5 does get released, players can hope that the past seven years have given Maxis an opportunity to create a game more vast than any of its predecessors. Judging by the negative feedback EA received for The Sims 4, the developer will have an incentive to create a new game with modernized features such as a multiplayer or online mode. It would also do well to reintroduce sought-after features from the past, such as The Sims 3’s realistic open-world; the first and only one of its kind in any of The Sims titles.