The Sims 4 Life & Dying growth pack is because of launch on Halloween, which is all nicely and good for an add-on that offers playable ghosts their long-awaited overhaul. However whereas the spooky trappings aren’t inappropriate for a DLC that is additionally reintroduced the oft-requested potential to bone the Grim Reaper, I can not assist however really feel that it undersells the pack’s most revolutionary characteristic: for the primary time within the franchise, you can say goodbye to your dearly departed Sims with a correct funeral.
It is a much more delicate and grounded strategy to, nicely, life and loss of life than the opposite main options of the growth, however nonetheless, long-time Simmers are understandably somewhat cautious as regards to event-gatherings of this kind. The My Wedding ceremony Tales sport pack, launched in February 2022, is probably going the closest level of comparability Sims 4 gamers have for funerals, and it is protected to say that mentioned add-on is infamous for all of the unsuitable causes – not least of which being that nearly three years later, wedding ceremony occasions themselves nonetheless solely kind-of work as marketed.
Upon reflection, the L&D staff recognized that the primary situation with My Wedding ceremony Tales was its try to impose a inflexible construction on the anarchic free-for-all that occurs at any time when a gaggle of Sims get collectively, particularly if lots of them aren’t a part of the lively family and subsequently are utterly computer-controlled.
The notorious picture of a neighbour in a tuxedo doing push-ups within the aisle because the bridal celebration makes an attempt to stroll down it’s certainly one that may hang-out the My Wedding ceremony Tales pack for years – though your mileage could differ as as to whether this ruined the large day or was only a hilarious case of Sims-being-Sims.
Consequently, funeral occasions in Life & Dying shall be extra “free-flowing”, in line with lead producer Morgan and lead designer Jessica, who helmed a digital preview of the pack for press final week. Which means funerals shall be extra like different occasions current within the sport – dates, events, holidays, and so on. – with a collection of targets for the participant to supervise earlier than the timer runs out, however with out the requirement to wrangle each attendee into doing the identical factor on the identical time that proved so disastrous for My Wedding ceremony Tales. There’s additionally been rigorous testing to make sure that visitors adhere to any gown code you select to set – one other frequent sore spot for gamers bored with seeing NPCs flip as much as life-defining moments in questionable apparel.
There’s a viewpoint, in fact, that weddings and funerals are extra linear and structured than, say, a home celebration, and {that a} sure real-world ceremonial weight is misplaced by primarily side-stepping the large shared moments at a funeral. However all video video games are constructed round technical constraints, and the error on the coronary heart of My Wedding ceremony Tales was to overreach that. Life & Dying as a substitute appears to be taking the extra sensible strategy of working creatively inside these limitations to ship an expertise the gamers need in a means that’s nonetheless recognisably (and achievably) Sims-y.
There are different causes to be optimistic concerning the launch state of Life & Dying. The digital preview I attended demoed the growth pack with all different add-on content material for The Sims 4 put in, taking the chance to exhibit cross-pack interactivity and stability, elements which have been conspicuously absent from the dialog round a few of the sport’s prior releases forward of launch.
With the latest announcement that The Sims 4 shall be an ongoing legacy title – and thus will not, as beforehand predicted, be stepping apart to make means for a Sims 5 anytime within the foreseeable future – it appears as if EA is seeking to rebuild some goodwill from The Sims participant base.
The present state of the sport isn’t with out its controversies in different areas: proper now, a free Halloween occasion is as soon as once more performing as a hot-button each for gamers who don’t desire time-limited content material in The Sims, and those that would not thoughts if solely it may really be relied upon to work correctly. However between the largely well-received romance overhaul in July’s Lovestruck EP and what we have seen to this point of Life & Dying, it looks like the franchise’s linchpin growth packs would possibly ultimately be getting again on monitor.
