The Sims 4 isn’t perfect, but it’s hard to give up on. First released in 2014, but it’s had regular updates and DLC drops in the decade since. The most recent DLC, Horse Ranch, came out a few months ago in July 2023. But whether they wait anxiously for every single new release or content themselves with the base game and a wealth of player-created content, The Sims 4’s most ardent devotees have become inextricably attached to the game in the near-decade since its release.
But there are some worrying developments on the horizon. The Sims developer Maxis has announced something tentatively called Project Rene, believed to be the working title for The Sims 5. Paradox, the developer behind such intricately detailed historical simulators as Crusader Kings, Victoria, and Hearts of Iron, also has a similar project in the works: Life by You, which could be competition for The Sims 4. In the face of all that, can The Sims 4 continue to stand the test of time? Here are ten reasons to believe so.
It’s partially only the case because the game is a decade old at this point, but The Sims 4 runs on virtually every platform available today. It works even on low-end PCs, has a macOS release, and is available for current- and previous-gen consoles. By contrast, newer games are developed with up-to-date hardware in mind. What’s more, a console release for The Sims 5 could be even further from a PC release, and there don’t seem to be any plans yet to release Life by You on any other platforms. Players of The Sims 4 with lower-end PCs might not be technically able to upgrade to a shiny, new game.
It’d be an understatement to say The Sims 4 has a big problem with bugs, but it has improved over the years. Any new release of a similar scope would also have a ton of bugs at launch, but the developers would have less experience in fixing them. As a result, it could easily take months after launch for The Sims 5 or Life by You to even become playable, especially since Life by You is coming out first in early access. And in the meantime, many will get their life sim fix by continuing to play The Sims 4.
It’s jarring to imagine Sims speaking anything but Simlish. Naturally, The Sims 5 will probably continue that series tradition, but competitor Life by You will take a different route. Life by You will have fully legible dialogue, but it won’t be fully voice acted; instead, characters will make emotive noises to go along with written lines. That has the potential to break immersion, as Life by You characters could easily say something out of character. Simlish, being both similar to English and mutually unintelligible with it, has the benefit of open interpretation.
2023-12-10 00:00:05
Source from screenrant.com
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