Highlights
- The Sims 4: Horse Ranch expansion pack finally fulfills players' long-awaited desire for horses in the game, along with mini-goats and mini-sheep.
- Simmers hope for more features in The Sims 4, such as playable pets, diverse sexualities, adjustable furniture, livable community lots, and advanced crime systems.
- Disability representation is lacking in The Sims 4 and the franchise as a whole, with potential for introducing disabilities in gameplay requiring careful consideration and inclusive design.
Since the successful debut of horses in The Sim 3 in 2011, players have long-awaited the addition of horses to The Sims 4 gameplay. After their marked absence in The Sims 4: Country Living Expansion Pack, Simmers were losing all hope that horses would ever feature in The Sims 4. That was until the unexpected announcement of The Sims 4: Horse Ranch expansion pack in the Summer of 2023.
To the excitement of many Simmers, not only does The Sims 4: Horse Ranch bestow players with highly-anticipated horses, but it also exclusively provides the first appearance of mini-goats and mini-sheep in The Sims Franchise. With the ongoing development of EA's upcoming successor for the franchise, The Sims 5 (also known as Project Rene), on the horizon, players fear buying a new base game in The Sims Franchise and being caught in a trap of endlessly purchasing expansion packs to access basic content. This last-minute wish-granting in The Sims 4 from EA begs the question: what other features do dedicated Simmers think are glaringly absent in The Sims 4, before players invest in the fifth version of this beloved simulation franchise?
7 Animals That Aren't NPCs
Although pets and horses are "part of the family" in The Sims 4 and will take up spaces in the maximum eight Sims per household rule, these animals remain 'unplayable'. This has not always been the case throughout the history of The Sims Franchise. In The Sims 2, pets were still independent agents, except players could view the needs bar, family tree, memories and career path of their pet Sims and could see upcoming pet actions even if these could not be altered by the player.
The Sims 3 took this a step further by providing Simmers with the first (and seemingly last) opportunity to play as their pet animals. For some unknown reason, The Sims 4: Cats and Dogs took a notable step back, leaving players frustrated by the lack of control over pets and the temptation to neglect animals whose needs are always a mystery. There were also missed opportunities for zoos, aquariums and exotic wildlife throughout the world beyond dolphins. With every animal taking up another slot in player's limited household capacity, Sims 4 players should once again be able to guide pet Sims just the same as their human companions, but Simmers may be resigned to waiting for The Sims 5 instead.
6 More Diverse Sexuality, Reproduction and Relationships
Baby showers, infants and family dynamics vastly improved with the The Sims 4: Growing Together expansion, but the details of Sim love lives could be so much more advanced. Simmers have identified the lack of periods, hormones and pregnancy symptoms. Only recently was lingerie introduced in The Sims 4: Simtimates Kit, implying that sexuality is a low priority, let alone diverse sexualities such as polyamory or even unique turn-ons and kinks. Sims are unable to have multiple partners openly without partners becoming heartbroken and jealous.
Sim relationships are generally unproblematic and uneventful with few qualities setting a "happy" relationship apart from an unhappy one. The impact of arguments could be reduced, allowing couples to argue without it hugely damaging the relationship or issues that need resolving to avoid escalation. There could be unique requirements for each romantic relationship to meet or recognized reasons to break up. For example, Sims may independently want to break up a boyfriend who never calls or girlfriend who keeps getting abducted by aliens.
5 Adjustable Furniture and New Vehicles
Since customizable cars in The Sims 3, players has longed for functioning cars and more developed methods of transportation, such as planes, motorcycles, boats and broomsticks for spell casters that can function over long distances. Additionally, players need creativity to achieve certain things that can be done in build mode in The Sims 4 with Mods, Custom Content and keyboard controls that force certain furniture to suit the creator's design. For example, clutter has often been very conditionally designed, oddly only able to be placed on very specific surfaces (at times even shelves are functionally useless and unable to display the full range of clutter items).
EA plans with Project Rene to address some Build Mode limitations, including the ability to adjust and move furniture freely and design furniture with color wheels and patterns. As such, it seems unlikely that The Sims 4 will ever be updated to reflect the future advancements of Project Rene, to the disappointment of Simmers who enjoy creating architectural masterpieces.
4 Livable Community Lots and Designable Worlds
Currently, community lots are not designed to also be livable and households have a maximum capacity of eight Sims, which eliminates potential for orphanages, jails, and even retirement homes. One of the missed opportunities from The Sims 4: High School Years was a lack of playable non-rabbit-hole schools including boarding schools and kindergarten groups.
The Sims 4 allows for a certain aspect of customizability, easier mobility between worlds, and an advanced online community and shared gallery, but not quite as extensively as previous versions in the franchise. Fans long for a return to designable worlds with the freedom to place lots and land features such as in The Sims 2 and also the open world roaming in The Sims 3. Increased flexibility for terrain would also allow for Simmers to Supernatural worlds for mermaids, vampires, and aliens among others.
3 CPS and Childcare Careers
Although parent-child dynamics are improved and more complex in The Sims 4, there is an absence of a CPS system (debuted in The Sims 2). EA could re-introduce a Social Worker Career Path allowing players to visit families to assess child welfare and remove and re-home children from neglectful or abusive households. Recent advancements include an adoption feature in The Sims 4 allowing Simmers to adopt pre-existing Sim children instead of randomized townie children, but the game still lacks a functioning 'children's home' where Simmers can play as children who have been put up for adoption.
Alternatively, the part-time Babysitter Career could involve multiple choice options or playable situations caring for Sim children, to expand childcare beyond surface-level careers. Similarly, a functioning Kindergarten or Daycare or interactive after-school activities for Elementary students would also improve childcare gameplay in The Sims 4.
2 Advanced Crime Systems
Petty crime is not foreign to The Sims 4 - and not just the abhorrent crime of a townie casually stealing a player's Egg Roll that cost 15 Simoleons. Heavy-hitting crime is still absent and players lack the danger of their Sims not just becoming victims of crime but active perpetrators. Sims can dabble with crime lightheartedly with the kleptomaniac trait or using criminal career paths, but most crime occurs in rabbit holes with the Sim's livelihood being otherwise unaffected. Sims do not feel guilt for becoming a criminal overlord, nor do they face any jail time, which is odd considering the addition of small jails and the pursuit of criminals in the playable Detective career path from The Sims 4: Get To Work.
Even Sim detectives are only investigating vandalism cases or breaking up fights; there is no real dangerous crime in The Sims universe. Understandable that EA might want to keep their violence rating low to appeal to a wider audience, except for the fact that Simmers are notoriously obsessed with finding ways to evilly kill their Sims - yet Sims cannot directly kill another Sim. Not to mention the non-lethal vampires, werewolves, and witches. Crime exists in The Sims 4, it just hasn't been developed into a nuanced system.
1 Disability Representation
There has always been a lack of disability representation in The Sims 4 and all previous editions of The Sims Franchise. Although The Sims 4 has made some half-hearted gestures towards acknowledging disability representation such as hearing aids, these small additions have no impact on gameplay; a Sim can have a visible hearing aid and still enjoy music from their radio, no problem. Developers have untapped potential to introduce options for randomized genetics, inherited diseases, accidents (which clumsy Sims are famous for), formative experiences, or degenerative aging to have notable physical effects on Sims during gameplay.
Of course, it is not as simple as adding in features of disability into gameplay - it would mean completely re-figuring how Sim lots are built and furniture is designed, let alone the introduction of therapy animals, canes, crutches, wheelchairs among other features, all to prevent disabled Sims being excluded from normal basic functions like making breakfast or showering. If The Sims 4 or its successors ever introduce disability to gameplay, it needs to be thoughtful and nuanced; players already experience disability discrimination in reality and don't need it repeated in ableist simulations.