The Sims 4 is Free? Top 10 Reasons to Get Started Now!

5 – The Gallery

I’ve already mentioned how crazy it is to me to see how creative our community can get, I’ve seen some amazing builds, and I like to think I’m not bad myself. But there’s one thing that’s available in The Sims 4 that really enhances it, and it is the availability of the Gallery. This built in exchange is what really makes it so much better to have access to these crazy creations. In previous Sims games, we had to use the Exchange, which was basically a website that stored all the shareable content, and a lot of it required a lot of clicks to get from the website, to your desktop, to your game. The Gallery just entirely removed this and made it so fast to not only get something in your game but share it to the world. I built my new houses, and almost immediately I upload them to the Gallery.

You also get notifications of your followed creators and instantly see what they have created or shared or even liked, and it’s just amazing to feel that connection to others straight from your game.

Best part is the Sims team also takes time and curates several creations once every few days and they specifically target the lesser known creators so who knows, maybe you’ll become the new face of the Sims community with the creations you make someday?

(Lot in the picture below was made by Tazreen Tasnim and can be found here)

4 – Toddlers

Okay, so, this one’s very special because OH MY PLUM. Toddlers are like the most adorable things in the game ever. Like honestly, they’re pudgy little faces are just so fun to look at, but what makes Toddlers so unique and on this list is ultimately their gameplay.

In the previous games, Toddlers were just… there, they existed and that was about it. You’d spend some time training them to speak, teaching them to go to potty, and teaching them to walk, but that was it, all those interactions were literally a single interaction you had to direct your sims in doing.

But Sims 4’s toddlers was the first where their gameplay evolved in a massive way. They were no longer as boring but had fun gameplay. They came with unique traits that affected their skill level gain, and to raise them well, you had to get their skills up, which is NOT an easy task since their default life span is only 7 days before they become children. The best part is that you don’t necessarily need to waste your adult sims time in teaching them since they can self-teach, albeit at a slower pace, but you can still achieve the first tier quite easily.

Plus, their behaviour, appearance and animations are just adorable, especially since they usually experience the harsher of the emotions (anger, sadness and happiness), it’s fun (in a slightly evil way) to see them have their tantrum but it’s also fun to use their emotions to make other Sims life miserable, when they cry other sims become tense and get worried.

But there’s also the other adorable gameplay, like reading a toddler to sleep, or having a toddler imitate one of your pets.

They are just so adorable and fun to play with, and honestly were worth the wait that we had with them. They filled a good and missing niche in the game and really made the game so much more fun and exciting.

3 – The Graphics

I think what makes Sims 4 so special comes down to how everything looks. When I left Sims 3 everything was somewhat painful to look at, sims all looked the same, and world just seemed… simple. When Sims 4, the graphics just look beautiful, the sims looked full of life, their detail and genetics were much more noticeable, and I remember looking over the children of some of my sims and seeing their parents features in them.

But I think the biggest stand out in my eyes were the worlds, and the attention to detail in them. Each world has its own unique style and is filled with so many decorative pieces, from the Von Haunt estate in Windenburg, all the way to the port of Brindleton Bay. Each world is truly unique and worth visting.

Forgotten Grotto was just beautiful to look at (and I think it is easily forgotten about) when I first went there, the way the light shone inside that cave made me want a full world that looked like that and I’m still sad we don’t have custom world tools, imagine what the community could do with them.

If you have Seasons, the worlds take on a whole new beauty with the weather. Seeing my graveyard covered in snow in Forgotten Hollow was stunning. Seeing the park that the League of Adventurers go to in Windenburg covered in leaves left me speechless.

And the views from the various high-rises in San Myshuno always leave me wanting more, the views I had in Bridgeport in Sims 3 were always some of my favourites.

2 – The Tools

I think one of the biggest selling points of the game is what the other games simply don’t have, the tools. From Create A Sim, all the way to Build Mode, the things we can do in the game is just amazing and fun to play around with.

In Create A Sim, we have such a high level of detail, and their simple interface make them ridiculously easy to use, I remember trying to use the sliders in the previous games and being horrendously bad. They were always monsters. But in Sims 4, I found the clay system to be so simple to use that my sim did feel unique to their own.

But even outside of that, the clothing system is a complete masterpiece, even in the beginning the ability to use assets from across categories was refreshing, no more were you restricted to weird clothing choices and your sims could wear underwear as a formal! But when the team released the uni-gender options it completely changed the way the game was, and we could create anything from gender-fluid sims, drag kings and queens, all the way to creating transgender sims, something that was never an option before.

When it comes to Build Mode, the room system is simply the best, it allows you to quickly change the layout of your house, and features like friezes, different wall heights, and the ability to even build pools on different floor levels just really enhance what’s possible to do in the game.

The tools have been the strongest suit and I think the team has shown amazing ingenuity with this game, even if it has its short-comings, there’s a lot that I hope will get to see in future instalments.

1 – The Community Itself

And the number 1 thing that’s the best about The Sims 4? Well it really relates to any game, but the truth is, you if you have Sims 4 you get to be part of the most wonderful community on earth, and sure, it’s not perfect, but more than anything I have seen it be truly a beautiful place, a safe place for people from all walks of life, who are connected by this beautiful game.

I’ve met some of the best people in the world thanks to this game, some are my close friends some are my best friends. I get to be part of this community no matter how known or unknown I am, I’ve made long-lasting friendships that I cherish forever.

There’s this positive buzz whenever a new leak comes out, it’s like a hive that comes alive, because we have something new to talk about it, but even when there isn’t new content we get to laugh and cherish the humour that this game provides. From funny glitches to funny situations (looking at you Bob), the game and the series has created this wonderful community that is so welcoming. It doesn’t matter if you are a builder, or a storyteller, or if you stumble and somehow manage to starve your single-sim. We just laugh with you because we understand, and I do believe that this community is a loving one.

It’s a truly special place, and if it wasn’t for this community, you wouldn’t even be reading this article, because it’s thanks to this community that Jovan even allows me to write these new articles.

So enjoy it, because we’re a family who are passionate about this wonderful game, through good, or through bad, we are one and we are proud to be Simmers.