The Sims 4

Put the 9mm down, for crying out loud. Not every game is about shooting your enemies in the shin bones. Honestly. Give me that, here, take this trowel. Now, follow me, through this tranquil landscape of blooming daffodils and perfectly arranged stone paths covered in happy moss. Yes, that’s it, you want a turn around the garden. A bit of soil on your fingers. And…

Tagged with feature, One Off The List, Eastshade, Everybody's Gone To The Rapture, Mutazione, Quiet as a Stone, Stardew Valley, The Sims 4, The Talos Principle, Untitled Goose Game.

You may have noticed, because of all the Simsposting lately, that I am well into The Sims 4 now. Brace yourself, because it is not going away soon. Anyway, like someone who has only just got into something but is into it hard, I am talking the talk even if I don't yet walk the walk. I am throwing around terms like 'Maxis match' and…

Tagged with Electronic Arts, feature, Maxis, Tiny Build-Off, The Sims 4.

Tension is ramping up in the RPS office, as we approach the release of The Sims 4's new Tiny Living Stuff Pack, and thus the editorial Tiny Build-Off between me and Graham. My tactic so far has been to practise a lot at home, so I am familiar with the build controls. Graham's has been to undermine me at the office, and try to prejudice…

Tagged with Electronic Arts, feature, Maxis, Team Alice, Tiny Build-Off, The Sims 4.

When I was a kid I was really, really into The Sims. The first one came out around the same time that my big brother went to university, which meant I got to move into his room - the big room, which had the computer in it. I stayed up way past my bedtime making versions of the adult my 11-year-old self wished to be…

Tagged with Electronic Arts, feature, Maxis, The Sims 4.

Earlier this week, EA revealed the new Tiny Living Stuff Pack for The Sims 4. It allows players to build cosy little homes, limited to just 100 floor tiles in size, and adds new little home items like a bookshelf that has an inbuilt TV. Plus: cosy knits! All very lovely. But the creativity of The Sims' community has never been confined by size -…

Tagged with Electronic Arts, feature, Kalonica, Kevin McCloud, Maxis, Pol Clarissou, The Sims, The Sims 4.

When half the town was gone, an interloper appeared in an empty house. His name was Whitely and I still don't know where he came from -- he just arrived. Perhaps he saw an advert in the local paper for a house sitting vacant: "Previous tenant spontaneously combusted. Ready for immediate move-in. No questions asked." He needed to be dealt with. This is the final…

Tagged with EA Maxis, feature, Motherlode, Simento Mori, The Sims, The Sims 4, The Sims, The Sims 4.

While playing through this second instalment of Simento Mori, an exploration into the limits and meaning of death in The Sims, I nearly swallowed a fly. I had casually taken a sip of my drink, only to feel the sensation of some foreign object (decidedly solid) making contact with the inside of my teeth. I had to extract its carcass from my mouth with my…

Tagged with EA Maxis, feature, Motherlode, Simento Mori, The Sims, The Sims 4.

 "Family is all", a wise man once said. And then he half-drowned his nephew in a bucket of ice water, but let's forget about that bit. The sentiment is what's important. Families can be good and bad, dysfunctional or helpful. This is as true in videogames as in life. So that's what we're podcasting about this week. The brothers, mothers, aunts and cousins we…

Tagged with feature, Podcast, The RPS Electronic Wireless show, Children of Morta, Gears of War 5, Tekken 7, The Sims 4, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint, What Remains of Edith Finch.

Six months ago, The Sims inspired an existential crisis. I say this with no particular gravitas, but to say it: The Sims is an undeniably powerful force. You can read about that existential crisis here, but suffice it to say that I have both a deep admiration for, and significant vendetta against, Maxis property The Sims. Perhaps sensing this rage/respect combo for The Sims, I’ve…

Tagged with feature, Motherlode, Simento Mori, The Sims, The Sims, The Sims 4.

We've been drowned by E3 2019 this past week, but maybe you only waded into the river of game reveals and new trailers up to your ankles. If you didn't get your hair wet, there might be some gems among the flotsam and jetsam that you missed. That's what this post is for: we've rounded up our picks for the best games of E3, based…

Tagged with E3 2019, feature, American Truck Simulator: Washington, Baldur's Gate III, Carrion, Cyberpunk 2077, Deathloop, Doom Eternal, Evil Genius 2, Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy VIII Remastered, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Psychonauts 2, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Starmancer, Telling Lies, The Sims 4, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2, Watch Dogs Legion.

Brendan: We are in Los Angeles, Matt! And we are doing a fun new thing. We're going to liveblog the heck out of these press conferences, but with a twist. One of us can only be enthusiastic, positive and cheery, no matter what comes up. And the other can only be snarky, grumpy and critical. Who would you like to be today? The cheerer or…

Tagged with E3 2019, Electronic Arts, feature, liveblog, The Cheerer and the Jeerer, Apex Legends, FIFA 20, Madden NFL 20, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, The Sims 4.

A year ago or so, I re-downloaded The Sims. My partner and I wanted a low-effort game to play together, and I introduced them to the life-changing videogame craze: “Make yourself in The Sims and live the life you’ve always wanted!!!” We made ourselves, built a beautiful little home, and adopted a cat. I became a professional writer or something, and they went into the…

Tagged with EA, feature, hauntology, Jacques Derrida, The Sims, The Sims 2, The Sims 3, The Sims 4.

Uh oh, here she goes again. “Does anyone want to tell Alice that The Sims 4 is the worst iteration in the Sims series?” No, you don’t need to tell me, I know it’s not the best. The Sims 3 will forever be dear to my heart, what with its cars and lack of loading screens, but The Sims 4 does its best by having…

Tagged with Electronic Arts, feature, Have You Played, The Sims Studio, The Sims 4.

Checking in on The Sims 4 [official site] I realised it's having a PlantSim challenge at the moment! PlantSim purists who remember the photosynthesising supernaturalness from previous games seem to be having mixed reactions (too casual/just right/hate it/it's fine/love it/what did you expect from a free update/etc etc) but for me who missed all that I decided to hop in and see about collecting these…

Tagged with Electronic Arts, feature, The Sims 4.

Virginia never imagined she'd be telling a Black woman it was okay to wear Black clothes. As an African with lighter skin, Virginia had feared accusations of cultural appropriation when she first started making traditional African outfits for The Sims 4. Though she had spent the first 12 years of her life in West Africa, her mixed-race origins marked her as an outsider, and she…

Tagged with fashion, feature, Second Life, The Sims, The Sims 4.

Ages ago (last year) I built a Sims 4 house for Alice and me to live in. Which is healthy and normal. Then I forgot about it. I have just remembered so I booted up to see what Alice and I would get up to.

Tagged with Electronic Arts, feature, The Sims 4.

The Sims 4 character creation is something I've been butting heads with the last few days and I wanted to talk about why. The topic of body dysmorphia comes up - I don't think it's trigger warningy but then I'm not at risk so I figured I'd flag it up just in case. One of my current gaming projects is building a Sims 4 house…

Tagged with Character creation, Electronic Arts, The Sims Studio, The Sims 4.