10 Things Missing From The Sims 4 (Not Just Horses)

Highlights

• The Sims 4: Horse Ranch
  finally brings playable horses to the game after much anticipation and also introduces mini-goats and mini-sheep.
• The upcoming Sims 5 project, Project Rene, leaves players wondering if The Sims 4 will meet their expectations before investing in the new release.
• The Sims 4: Lovestruck expansion introduces new relationship dynamics, romantic features, and customization options to enhance gameplay.

Since the successful debut of horses in The Sim 3 in 2011, players have long-awaited the addition of horses to The Sims 4 gameplay. After their marked absence in The Sims 4: Country Living Expansion Pack, Simmers were losing all hope that horses would ever feature in The Sims 4, until an unexpected announcement in Summer of 2023. To the excitement of many Simmers, not only did The Sims 4: Horse Ranch bestow players with highly-anticipated horses, but it also exclusively provided the first appearance of mini-goats and mini-sheep in The Sims Franchise.

With the ongoing development rumors of EA’s upcoming successor for the franchise, The Sims 5 (also known as Project Rene), on the horizon, players fear buying a new base game in The Sims franchise and being caught in a trap of endlessly purchasing expansion packs to access basic content. This last-minute wish-granting in The Sims 4 from EA begs the question: what other features do dedicated Simmers think are glaringly absent in The Sims 4, before players invest in the fifth version of this beloved simulation franchise?

Updated on July 25th, 2024, by Holly Dixon: With varying levels of success, EA has embarked on a journey of releasing long-awaited expansion packs and features for The Sims 4 since 2023, alongside attempts to fix bugs and glitches that have plagued franchise for years, seemingly proving thaat the developers are determined to make improvements to gameplay wherever possible. Some fans doubt if The Sims 4 will ever truly meet all of their expectations, or if the gameplay can ever be relieved of its glitches that have made some expansion and game packs less playable and enjoyable. However, The Sims 4: Lovestruck expansion is due to be released on July 25th, 2024, making significant and long-awaited changes to romantic Sims content, including online dating, polyamorous relationships, customizable relationship boundaries, and even eggplant costumes, all of which have been cravings of Sims fans since The Sims 4 base game debuted in 2014.

10 Animals That Aren’t NPCs

Playable Animal Sims That Don’t Take Up Family Slots

Although pets and horses are “part of the family” in The Sims 4 and will take up spaces in the maximum eight Sims per household rule, these animals remain ‘unplayable’. Even the adorable additions of the mini-sheep and goats in the franchise are reduced to animated objects that can be purchased en-masse and stored in Sims’ inventories, like Pokémon. This has not always been the case throughout the history of The Sims franchise. In The Sims 2, pets were still independent agents, except players could view the needs bar, family tree, memories, and career path of their pet Sims and could see upcoming pet actions, even if these could not be altered by the player.

The Sims 3 took this a step further by providing Simmers with the first (and seemingly last) opportunity to play as their pet animals. For some unknown reason, The Sims 4: Cats and Dogs took a notable step back, leaving players frustrated by the lack of control over their pets and tempted to neglect animals whose needs are always a mystery. There were also missed opportunities for zoos, aquariums, and exotic wildlife throughout the world, beyond dolphins. Perhaps Simmers could be motivated to be the best animal lovers alongside the current aspirations with a measurement system for how happy their pets are, new goals for how to improve their livelihood, and unique traits for each pet similar to infants’ quirks, such as “needs to be hand-fed.” With every animal taking up another slot in players’ limited household capacity, TheSims 4 players should once again be able to guide pet Sims just the same as their human companions, but Simmers may be resigned to waiting for The Sims 5 instead.

9 Heartbreak, Bitter Exes, And Meet The Parents

Lovestruck Misses Out On Awkward “Meet The Family” Dinners For Parental Approval

The Sims 4: Lovestruck DLC promises to introduce new features in 2024 that have been repeatedly requested for decades, from polyamorous relationships to Turn-Ons and foreplay. Prior to this expansion, Sims were unable to have multiple romantic partners openly without their partners becoming heartbroken and jealous, but the new Romantic Boundaries System enables players to customize how Sims feel jealousy, or whether they expect monogamy or exclusivity in their relationships. This, plus the addition of new traits and Turn-Ons that affect how quickly Sims fall in love (and who with) will revolutionize sexuality and romance options in The Sims 4. Furthermore, The Sims 4 is introducing a Romantic Satisfaction feature to address the issue of unproblematic and uneventful Sim relationships with few qualities setting a “happy” relationship apart from an unhappy one. Sims will finally need to maintain healthy relationships to earn positive Relationship Dynamics like Wholesome or Steamy, or else be punished for constant arguments with the Strained or Unpredictable labels. The Sims 4: Lovestruck may also build on the lingerie from the Simtimates Collection Kit with new ‘fun games in the bedroom’ and costumes to wear during WooHoos to expand intimacy options.

What is still missing in The Sims 4 gameplay is a culture of exes, such as vengeful former lovers being actively spiteful, beyond stealing newspapers and kicking over bins. Sims could become anxious or gain negative moodlets from seeing their ex, lament when old partners get a new lover, or have desires to “get back together” or “never see them again,” with rewards for achieving these goals. Sims also need more complex argument systems, whereby arguments on milder topics won’t hugely damage the relationship, but meanness or violence should be a direct reason to break up. Break-ups also need to become more nuanced and potentially difficult, such as emotional, heated arguments following a break-up, clingy Sims who won’t stop calling afterward, or a ghosting girlfriend whose idea of a breakup is always getting abducted by aliens. One missing feature from The Sims 4: High School Years is the ability to introduce new girlfriends or boyfriends to parent Sims and gain their approval, or suffer from interfering friends or family members attempting to separate couples.

8 Careers, Bands, And NPC Events

Invites To NPC Weddings, Build Your Own Band, And Active Firefighter Careers

The Sims 4: Get To Work revolutionized careers for the franchise, allowing players to accompany Sims to work, achieve goals and befriend coworkers like never before. However, some career paths deserve interactive work days, including psychologists, waitresses, personal chefs, firefighters, animal trainers, groomers and shelter owners, repairmen, and maids, to name a few. While Sims can independently make money as a musician or singer, from learning an instrument to writing songs, there is also not an option to start a cohesive band that harmonizes together, which could involve designing the band’s look, album covers, songs, and even building a fan culture of attending concerts.

While players can create events to invite other Sims to, gameplay could be much more engaging if NPCs held their own weddings, funerals, birthday parties, and baby showers that players are invited to, or that they can choose to crash if uninvited for maximum drama. Sims should also be able to go door-to-door trick or treating or Christmas caroling with their child Sims, as currently players rarely see one trick or treater NPC visiting their home on Halloween.

7 Adjustable Furniture and New Vehicles

Color Wheels And All Modes Of Transportation Wanted

Although round pools have now been included in an update to The Sims 4, Build Mode still leaves a lot to be desired. Since customizable cars in The Sims 3, players have longed for functioning cars and more developed methods of transportation, such as planes, motorcycles, boats, and broomsticks for spell casters that can function over long distances. Additionally, players need Mods, Custom Content, and keyboard cheats to achieve certain things in Build Mode in The Sims 4, such as making furniture to suit the creator’s design. For example, clutter has often been very conditionally designed, only able to be placed oddly on very specific surfaces (at times even shelves are functionally useless and unable to display the full range of clutter items).

EA hopes Project Rene will address some Build Mode limitations, including the ability to adjust and move furniture freely and design furniture with color wheels and patterns. Perhaps if a feature of this kind was included in The Sims 4, players could upload and share their unique furniture designs for other players worldwide to use. As such, it seems unlikely that The Sims 4 will ever be updated to reflect the future advancements of Project Rene, to the disappointment of Simmers who enjoy creating architectural masterpieces.

6 Livable Community Lots And Designable Worlds

Non-Rabbit-Hole Boarding Schools, Hotel, And Underwater Real Estate

Currently, community lots are not designed to also be livable, and households have a maximum capacity of eight Sims, which eliminates the potential for orphanages, jails, and even retirement homes. One of the missed opportunities from The Sims 4: High School Years was a lack of playable non-rabbit-hole schools, including boarding schools and kindergarten groups. The new Sims 4: Lovestruck expansion pack teases a love hotel, ‘Beso Rápido’, where dating Sims stay to WooHoo, but it is merely another rabbit-hole. Simmers are truly craving the ability to visit and manage functioning hotels in vacation locations, similarly to the way The Sims 4: For Rent expansion pack that allowed gamers to become Sim landlords.

The Sims 4 allows for a certain element of customization, easier mobility between worlds, and an advanced online community and shared gallery, but not quite as extensively as previous entries in the franchise. Fans long for a return to designable worlds with the freedom to place their own lots and land features, such as in The Sims 2, and also the open-world roaming from The Sims 3. Increased flexibility for terrain would also allow for Simmers to create supernatural worlds for mermaids, vampires, and aliens, among others. Why can’t EA build a new underwater world for mermaids, with anemone and shell-themed homes, sea creatures like sharks, jellyfish, and turtles and a range of unlockable skills and traits specific to mermaids, in the vein of the werewolves and vampires?

5 Create-A-Sim Improvements

Customizable NPC Family Trees And Height Sliders

Any veteran Simmer knows that making even one Sim in Create-A-Sim can take real life hours. While the desire to perfect the fashion, personality and appearance of Sims is high, a few improvements to the Create-A-Sim system could speed up this lengthy progress. The first improvement EA made recently was the option to keep the same makeup, accessories, and hairstyles across all outfit types, meaning players no longer have to painstakingly apply every item of lipstick, nail varnish and earring to each outfit their Sim wears. One trait notably absent from The Sims 4: Wedding Stories game pack was that Married Sims cannot pick out a designated ring for their engagement or wedding that they wear for every outfit. Players have also lamented the limited hair colors, tattoos, makeup and jewelry available, often needing to purchase every pack for one or two new options or outsource to Custom Content designed by fans to supplement the gaps. Height Sliders are also absent, perhaps due to animation requirements to make sure Sims can walk through all door types; players often seek out mods to change a Sim’s height, to create short or tall Sims.

If creating one Sim was time-consuming, imagine designing a Sim family dynasty. Simmers who crave creating huge, sprawling families, with grandparents, aunts, uncles, children, and grandchildren, often face the issue of either editing relationships in Create-A-Sim (with only seven other Sims at a time) or spending hours of gameplay having children or marrying into other families to create a sprawling family tree. Create-A-Sim should provide the option to change the family relationship with pre-existing Sims already in the world, not just the Sims in a new household. For example, being able to decide that a new Sim’s parents are Don Lothario and Bella Goth in Create-A-Sim with a click of a button, rather than manually having to build this family dynamic in-game.

4 CPS And Childcare Careers

Repercussions For Absent Parents, Active Social Worker Careers, And Kindergartens

Baby showers, infants, and family dynamics vastly improved with the The Sims 4: Growing Together expansion, but the details of pregnant, parent, and child Sims could be so much more advanced. Simmers have identified the lack of periods, hormones, and pregnancy advanced symptoms, such as cravings for food or inexplicable anger or flirtatiousness. Any Simmer will know that even strangers are keen to mother random child Sims, snatching infants from highchairs to feed them endless bottles and yogurts. Sim parents who don’t like or want children receive negative moodlets during the birth of their child, but these quickly fade, and they still care for children sufficiently. Children can “stay over” at a relative’s house, but The Sims 4 also lacks an easy way for children to live at two different houses in a split custody situation, between divorced or separated parents, or between different caregivers. Parenting could become more nuanced if unwilling parent Sims could abandon their families, refuse to care for children, be forced to pay child support, or are yelled at by their ex-partners or offspring for poor parenting. This would give greater meaning to what defines ‘excellent’ Sim parents, and children of ‘child-hating’ Sims could gain life-long traits like “Unwanted Child” as a result of mean or absent parents.

Speaking of, hungry children will be taken from the household before they perish, but there is an absence of a real CPS system (debuted in The Sims 2) in The Sims 4. EA could re-introduce a Social Worker Career Path, allowing players to visit families to assess child welfare and remove and re-home children from neglectful or abusive households. Recent advancements include an adoption feature in The Sims 4 allowing Simmers to adopt pre-existing Sim children instead of randomized townie children, but the game still lacks a functioning ‘children’s home’ where Simmers can play as children who have been put up for adoption. Alternatively, the part-time Babysitter Career could involve multiple choice options or playable situations caring for Sim children, to expand childcare beyond surface-level careers. Similarly, a functioning Kindergarten or Daycare, or interactive after-school activities for Elementary students, would also improve childcare gameplay in The Sims 4.

3 Justice For Elder Sims

Retirement Homes, Inheritance, Funerals, And Grandparent Aspirations

Despite small steps towards their appreciation with The Sims 4: Growing Together and Nifty Knitting Stuff Pack, elders remain one of the most neglected life stages in The Sims 4, primarily because they are often treated like adults with gray hair. Although players can manually create a space where elders live together in The Sims 4: For Rent, elders are severely lacking a retirement home with functioning staff designed to care for them, personalized rooms, and visitation from family members. The lives of Elder Sims would also be enhanced if they could join elder-specific classes, holidays, start volunteer careers with charities, and actively crave time with other elders.

Although family-orientated packs have strengthened the bond between relatives, child Sims still often see their grandparents as strangers, no matter their age; elder Sims would benefit from unique grandparent aspirations, traits, dynamics and regular events with their grandchildren to build this bond. A sad fact of aging is deteriorating health, which elder Sims lack; they do not experience dementia, mood swings, menopause, or the need for elder-friendly furniture, like stair lifts or adjustable beds. While it may make the game more morbid, elder Sims deserve retirement parties, wills, life insurance, and funerals where their family can celebrate their long lives and mourn their passing respectfully.

2 Advanced Crime Systems

Violent Criminals, Mortal Peril, And Lethal Occult Sims

Petty crime is not foreign to The Sims 4; ask anyone who has suffered the abhorrent crime of a townie casually stealing a player’s Egg Roll that cost 15 Simoleons. Heavy-hitting crime is still absent though, and players lack the danger of their Sims not just becoming victims of crime, but active perpetrators. Sims can dabble with crime lightheartedly with the Kleptomaniac trait, or by choosing criminal career paths, but most crime occurs in rabbit holes with the Sim’s livelihood being otherwise unaffected. Sims do not feel guilty for becoming a criminal, nor do they face any jail time outside of working hours, which is odd considering the addition of small jails and the pursuit of criminals in the playable Detective career path from The Sims 4: Get To Work. Imagine having the ability to report crimes (legitimately or falsely) to the police and watching the perpetrators being hauled off in handcuffs, from accusing Eliza Pancakes of being a stalker to holding neighbors accountable for destroying the dollhouse for the fifth time.

Even Sim detectives are only investigating vandalism cases or breaking up fights; there is no real dangerous crime in The Sims universe. It’s understandable that EA might want to keep their violence rating low to appeal to a wider audience, except for the fact that Simmers are notoriously obsessed with finding ways to kill their Sims, and yet Sims cannot directly kill another Sim. Not to mention the underwhelming non-lethal bites, rampages, and spells of vampires, werewolves, and witches. Crime exists in The Sims 4, it just hasn’t been developed into a nuanced system.

1 Disability Representation

Accessible Furniture, Wheelchairs, And The Inclusion Of Disabled Sims

There has always been a lack of disability representation in The Sims 4 and all previous editions of The Sims franchise. Although The Sims 4 has made some half-hearted gestures towards acknowledging disability representation, such as hearing aids, these small additions have no meaningful impact on gameplay. A Sim can have a visible hearing aid and still enjoy music from their radio, no problem. Developers have untapped potential to introduce options for randomized genetics, inherited diseases, accidents (which clumsy Sims are famous for), formative experiences, or degenerative aging to have notable physical effects on Sims during gameplay.

Of course, it is not as simple as adding in features of disability into gameplay; it would mean completely re-designing how Sim lots are built and furniture is designed, let alone the introduction of therapy animals, canes, crutches, and wheelchairs, among other features, all to prevent disabled Sims being excluded from normal basic functions like making breakfast or showering. If The Sims 4 or its successors ever introduce disability to gameplay, it needs to be thoughtful and nuanced; players already experience disability discrimination in reality and don’t need it repeated in ableist simulations.