We are six years into The Sims 4, and with 2021 around the corner, it will be exciting to see what’s next from this franchise. But before we enter a new year, I want to reflect on the best and worst aspects of Sims 4 content this year. The main game has improved in some subtle yet excellent ways, but the numerous disjointed expansions released in 2020 mostly just made me frustrated about how EA is managing the franchise.
In 2020, EA kept busy, releasing Eco Lifestyle, Snowy Escape, Star Wars: Journey to Batuu, Tiny Living Stuff, Nifty Knitting Stuff, and updates to the base game. They did a lot in this difficult year, but it hasn’t all added up to a better game. The developers no doubt worked hard during the pandemic. Because of that, any criticism I have of the game for 2020 comes with the caveat that this was a tough year. However, I’m also hopeful that 2021 will be a better year for the franchise.
The Sims 4 is controversial. Fans like the ease of its create-a-sim features and The Sims 4 art style, but they don’t like the removal of The Sims 3’s open world model that allowed every Sim to move around the world at once without a loading screen. Over the years, many fans, myself included, have also felt that EA was behind on implementing diversity in the game. This doesn’t just mean across racial differences, but also things like the diversity of designs via the create-a-style tool from The Sims 3. The issue regarding racial diversity continued this year with the release of Snowy Escape, an expansion involving Japanese designs that lacked diversity in terms of the Sims it featured and the community creators who were tapped to help make content for it. So while The Sims 4 is made for everybody to play, it’s not always represented in their actions when developing content.
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