2023 has a lot in store for The Sims franchise, both in of updates and DLC for The Sims 4 and more information about Project Rene. The Sims 4 has been out since 2014, and shows no signs of slowing down any time soon, even with the new entry Project Rene, which many fans believe to be The Sims 5, in the works. Although there's less known about some of the releases than others, it's safe to say Sims fans have a lot to look forward to next year.
This past October, the Behind The Sims Summit presentation revealed a host of new details about the franchise's plans. While of course the highlight of the presentation was Project Rene, the announcement of Expansion Packs and updates was just as important, and perhaps even more so in the short-term, as fans likely won't see Project Rene released for several years. Outside the presentation, there are also several ongoing update projects for The Sims 4 that will bring worthwhile content to the game in their own right.
Updates For Sims 4 Townies, Infants, Pronouns, & More Are Coming
A new update to babies in The Sims is hitting the game in 2023. This update was teased only briefly during the Behind The Sims Summit, showing short footage of a baby crawling and sneezing before being picked up by their parent. However, the news that babies won't just be Sims 4 furniture anymore is huge, as currently, they're relegated to their bassinet and cannot be freely carried around a Sim's home or interacted with in any meaningful way. Developers confirmed infants will be a brand-new life stage separate from babies, and as of now it seems that this will be a free addition to The Sims 4 and not part of paid DLC.
Create a Sim in The Sims 4 has already received several important changes over the course of 2022, with developers adding both sexual orientation options and pronoun selection to the game. Neither of these settings has been perfected just yet, however, with developers stating problems like translation issues in other languages have contributed to hurdles in how the game phrases things relating to these selections.
Players also received new likes and dislikes with the High School Years Expansion Pack for the second time in the game's history, and developers have stated their intent to add more as the game continues to give even more personality to in-game Sims; although whether these will come by themselves or with new DLC is unclear at this time. The recently added Wants and Fears system is also slated to be improved over the next year, as the highly-requested system from The Sims 2 currently has fairly sparse detail in The Sims 4.
Sims won't just be getting more personality from Create a Sim in 2023, either. An ongoing project for The Sims 4 developers has centered on revamping neighborhood Sims, giving them improved appearances and story details that better align with the levels of lore features in previous mainline Sims game entries.
An example of this was shown earlier in 2022, when an improved Goth family came to The Sims 4 as part of a free The Sims Delivery Express drop. Since then, no other family improvements have been seen, but it is known that this was just the beginning of family updates. It's not certain if literally every single family within the game will receive one of these makeovers, or if they'll be reserved for bigger names like the Landgraab and Lothario households, but either way, more detailed townies are on their way in 2023.
Sims Fans Will Receive Free & Paid Content, New Project Rene Details
Alongside these gameplay updates, The Sims 4 players will be receiving a lot of other content as well, both free and paid. During the Behind The Sims Summit, developers announced an even stronger focus on The Sims Delivery Express drops, called SDX for short, which are small additions of things into the title that aren't large enough to warrant a full game update. Past The Sims Delivery Express drops have brought holiday items, new foods, hairstyles, Scenarios, and more to the game as fun free surprises for players. While they were already somewhat frequent, SDX drops are now intended to happen monthly going forward.
Players will also have the option to purchase new paid content in 2023 if they so desire, with two known Sims 4 Expansion Packs set to release. Expansion Packs are the largest size of DLC - and one many players wish developers would focus more on over smaller releases like Kits. Little is known about what they'll entail, but early concept art showed off what looks to be a shopping center as well as a waterside, San Francisco-esque area.
While some believe Project Rene probably isn't The Sims 5, updates about a new entry in The Sims franchise are interesting nonetheless. Incredibly early playtests of the game demonstrating its Workshop mode have already begun, and a subsequent flood of leaks soon followed. With two sets of leaks coming within the first few weeks of some players having access to the game, they'll likely only increase as development continues. Developers have stated they wish to be open about Project Rene in all of its stages of development, and fans are sure to learn a lot more about the game throughout 2023.
Although The Sims 4 fixing babies is 8 years late, and other instances of improving features that simply could've been released in a better state to begin with, like the Wants and Fears system, are easy to be negative about, it does seem like over the past year or so The Sims developers have truly started listening to the player base more. It's perhaps better for fans to view updates like these with a "better late than never" mentality and allow themselves to become excited about everything The Sims franchise will be bringing to the table in 2023.
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