It might be surprising to discover that, despite being a life simulator, one of the most important parts of The Sims series is the lore regarding the pre-made families, the presence of the occults, and the timeline. Even as early as The Sims, lore played a fundamental part of The Sims experience for many players, though it was in The Sims 2 that the lore expanded and a proper timeline was established. Players were happy to follow the events of this timeline until the launch of The Sims 4, which broke with tradition.
While previous releases in The Sims series followed the same timeline, albeit in a non-linear fashion, The Sims 4 was rather set in an alternate universe where none of the events from the previous games had happened. This was an incredibly controversial and widely unpopular move, as it meant removing many fan-favorite pre-made families such as The Sims tutorial family. In addition to removing The Sims 4 from the original timeline, many aspects of the lore became superficial in The Sims 4, rarely going further than the family bio.
The Sims Still Has Mysteries to Solve
In addition to removing popular families integral to The Sims lore, many of the mysteries surrounding the pre-made families such as the Bella Goth drama have been abandoned in favor of the new alternate timeline. Players who were expecting some kind of resolution to the drama instead have been given a world where some of the most compelling events of The Sims never existed. This leaves many questions that won't be answered unless The Sims 5 returns to The Sims' original timeline, instead of sticking to The Sims 4's alternate reality.
The disappearance of Bella Goth set up a massive conspiracy that spanned worlds in The Sims 2, and its legacy continued into The Sims 3. The different families created a legacy of lore in The Sims, and all of that was completely abandoned when The Sims 4 was set in an alternate timeline. Abandoning one of the most popular parts of a series wasn't a popular move among players, and The Sims 5 needs to return to the original timeline to reassert its place.
The Sims 4 Broke Lore That Simmers Wanted to Keep
One of the most frustrating parts about the lore of The Sims 4 is how shallow it is: character and family bios will state that certain Sims have relationships with each other and other households, when in reality the Sims don't know each other at all. The exception to this rule are Sims who are married to each other, which feels weirdly old-fashioned for a series that markets itself as progressive, but it also gets really weird in some instances with some unfortunate consequences.
For example, Johnny Zest is the disinherited child of the Landgraabs, yet he doesn't appear on their family tree, nor do any of the Landgraabs or Johnny have any relationship with each other, even a negative one. The lore in The Sims 4 is so perfunctory that it's possible for Johnny Zest to enter a romantic relationship with his immediate family members. This is because, unlike previous games in The Sims, pre-made Sim families' relationships largely aren't acknowledged beyond the family bio.
The Sims 5 needs to fix these parts of the lore, and preferably make a return to the original timeline to resolve the lore questions and mysteries introduced earlier in the series. These fixes need to include gameplay, so that lore mentioned in family bios and descriptions are carried through in live mode, creating a better experience for players that doesn't feel superficial and something they can get invested in and play through themselves.
The Sims 5 is in development.