The Sims 4 adds new features: neighbors will be able to adopt pets or die in accidents

A few months ago, The Sims 4 introduced a new update that introduced the Neighborhood Stories mechanic. Thanks to this feature, the game options for neighboring sims - that is, characters that are not controlled by the player - were expanded, allowing them to experience changes in their lives.

“Neighborhood stories begin with a gameplay split between the vital changes of neighboring Sims that your Sims can influence by having them weigh them, things that neighbouring Sims will take into consideration autonomously and things that can be included in both categories,” they explained at the time.

Now, they have introduced a new update that will further expand the scope of that feature. In the publication that accompanied the announcement, they first described the changes that are going to add to the lives of all neighboring Sims, whether or not they are related to the sims that the player controls:

- They will be able to adopt young Sims, from babies to children

- Family Sims are going to be able to get pregnant with their partner, anti-commitment sims are going to be less likely to do this

- They will be able to adopt dogs or cats (provided you have the expansion that adds pets)

- They will be able to start or leave careers and their traits will influence those decisions; if they are older, they can make the decision to retire

- They will be able to die in different accidents and risk factors such as age, traits or career will influence

“All these changes in life allow neighboring Sims to have fuller and richer lives that evolve over time. They grow up in a family, get jobs, move, raise children and, in the end, die”, they emphasized.

The second big change that comes with the update focuses on a new set of game controls that will allow users to determine what changes neighboring sims may experience:

- Independent settings: players can choose to enable or disable each type of life change and even reject all the options of this feature in the different houses in the neighborhood.

- By default: The Neighborhood Stories feature is enabled for other household units and disabled on the player's home units. This aims to avoid unintended changes in own games.

- Home-specific configurations: Each home can have its own configuration, “allowing Simmers to adapt life changes to make sense in that family's history.”

- Global settings to enable or disable: you can completely disable the feature in the game.

In addition, they anticipated the release of The Sims 4 Maximalist Decor, the next kit to be added to the game and that will be aimed at those “looking to instantly elevate any room from basic to inspiring, with expressive and eclectic pieces.” It will be released on March 21 on PC and Mac via Origin and Steam, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.

KEEP READING: