The Sims 4 new update adds over 100 skin tones and sliders to character creation

Earlier this year, Maxis told players that they would expand the character creation tools in The Sims 4 to help create more diverse Sims, specifically focusing on darker skin tones and textured hairstyles. That effort has produced results today in a free update that massively expands your ability to choose skin tones and makeup colors along with a couple hairstyle improvements.

The update adds a whole chunk of new skin swatches to Create A Sim and separates them into warm, neutral, cool, and miscellaneous categories—the latter being for the fantasy skin tones like blue and green. You can adjust the brightness of each swatch to further tune to the color you're looking for and save a specific creation so you can find it later.

Makeup selection, another element that Maxis said they would look into, has also gotten expanded options. You can select hue, saturation, brightness, and opacity for makeup shades and save them like you do with skin tones. "We have locked some of the sliders where it did not provide an optimal experience or make sense for the makeup," they add. "Expect us to continue our work on these issues into the future to provide you with more."

A couple hairstyles have been updated as well. A children's braided ponytail style now comes in two options while the masculine flat top up above has gotten a rework too.

You can catch all the rest of the update notes and bug fixes contained in the update in Maxis's forum post. They've also shouted out the modders and players who provided "candid conversations and constructive feedback" on the new update.

Over on Twitter, Maxis reiterated their intention to continue with similar updates. "We are committed to making meaningful progress for all players and we are continuing the work for better in-game representation long-term," they say.