Is A Sims Game Without Pools Even A Sims Game At All?

The answer is, of course, "Yes, obviously," but The Sims' triumphant return to our lives (well, technically non-lives with The Sims ruling them) might be a slightly bittersweet one. The Sims 4 is bringing all sorts of new building, customization, and socialization features, but it's losing some classics. Remember swimming pools? Of course you do, you SimSadist, you ladder-deleting devil. Well, they won't be available, unfortunately. Neither will toddlers. Details below.

The news actually came as part of a rather celebratory blog post on Maxis' part, but the offending bits stuck out like sore thumbs, all hangnail and puss-encrusted cuticle:

"Build Mode truly is the most powerful, and fun, Build Mode we’ve ever created. While it’s not possible for us to include every single feature and piece of content we added to The Sims 3 over the last 5 years, we’ve added features that you’ve asked for and that offer a whole new intuitive and fun way to build. These are features like Wall Height Adjustment, Dynamic Foundation Sizing, and Smart Windows! And though pool building won’t be available in September, we do have a new Fountain Tool so you can create sophisticated landscapes. Whether you were a novice builder in The Sims 3, or an experienced pro, I really think you’re going to love The Sims 4’s build mode."

Yeah, but, but, but... POOLS.

The toddler news was similarly couched in effusive positivity, with Maxis waxing genetic about the ability to create relatives from any other Sim. There will also be all sorts of new personalities, which sounds great! Thing is, they'll be confined to babies, children, teens, young adults, adults and elders. No toddlers.

It's hard not to be concerned that EA will add these features back at a later date (possibly for a price), but nothing Maxis explicitly said indicates such a plan. Not directly, anyway. That's something, but beyond that we'll just have to wait and see.

For now, then, we can only mourn the loss of our ability to use pools for completely non-nefarious purposes as we eagerly await our babies' chrysalis metamorphoses into walking, talking, non-larval humans. Let us hope it's all for the best, even as our Sims gaze longingly into their backyards and wonder what could have been.