There are a bunch of different ways to play sandbox games, and The Sims is no different. One of the most popular ways to avoid aimless gameplay and boredom while playing The Sims is through storytelling, and Simmers often employ a wide range of challenges created by the community to do just that. These challenges are designed to push players to their limits and encounter new scenarios that they otherwise wouldn't experience.
Popular challenges in The Sims 4 include the 100 Baby Challenge, the Black Widow Challenge, the Dumpster Challenge, the Not So Berry Challenge, and the History Challenge. All of these challenges have different sets of rules and restrictions that make gameplay, building, and Create-a-Sim more interesting. Arguably the most popular challenge is one of the originals, the Legacy Challenge, where a player creates an individual Sim, places them on the largest empty lot, and plays for ten generations without using any cheats. The Legacy Challenge is completed upon the birth of the tenth generation.
Legacy Challenges Use the Best Features in The Sims
While there are different versions of the Legacy Challenge such as the Not So Berry and History Challenges, they're all based on the same principle of gameplay of having a single founder and creating a legacy through the generations. The Legacy Challenge uses the best features of The Sims by its very nature: the relationships and dynamics between Sims take prominence, Sim A.I and gameplay is important, and overall, build mode, careers, and hobbies are the most important parts of the Legacy Challenge.
These are all the features that have historically been the most requested in The Sims. While the recent infant update and new dynamics features in The Sims 4: Growing Together expansion were well-received, many players argued that these were all basic features that should have been included in the base game from launch. They're also features that are integral to any Legacy Challenge and were welcomed by parts of The Sims community that are invested in Legacy Challenges. Focusing on features like these for The Sims 5 base game will probably be met with enthusiasm by players, especially considering the popularity of the Legacy Challenge that uses these fundamental features.
Basic Features Like Family Gameplay and Build-Mode are Staples in The Sims
While The Sims 4: Growing Together dynamics and infant update were recent content additions to The Sims 4, family gameplay seen in Legacy Challenges has long been a staple of The Sims experience for players and is one of the major draws to the game. Another fundamental feature of Legacy Challenges is build-mode and creating a beautiful home for the Legacy family. Simmers won't forget that The Sims 4 launched without several very basic build-mode features, such as pools, basements, levels, and terrain tools.
If The Sims 5 is going to be successful from launch, Maxis needs to focus on what makes the Legacy Challenge so popular even 20 years after the first creation of such challenges. The Legacy Challenge makes the best use of the most basic features of The Sims and makes the series truly shine when they're done well. Even today, videos on streaming platforms and even pre-recorded playlists of Legacy playthroughs are some of the most popular content within The Sims fandom spaces. Simmers have created incredible stories and homes for their Sims because of the Legacy Challenge, and it's all been done through the most basic features found in The Sims base game. Accommodating Legacy players could be one of the best strategies the developer could adopt for The Sims 5.
The Sims 5 is in development.