Will These Occults Ever Return as Sims 4 Life States?

With the arrival of fairies in the upcoming Sims 4 expansion pack Enchanted by Nature I figured I’d take a look back at some other life states from the past Sims games that have yet to return as Sims 4 life states. I’ll be talking about them not in order of game appearance, but in how likely I think it is that they will return. There’s only a handful, so let’s get started.

Before I get started, I want to note that I’m not including Plumbots or Simbots in this list. We already have Servos, which were the OG robot life state and I don’t believe it’s necessary to have a bunch of different robotic life states in one game.

Bigfoot

Sims 2 Bon Voyage

The vacation expansion for Sims 2, Bon Voyage, added a peculiar life state, Bigfoot. Unlike most other life states, your sim was not able to turn into a bigfoot. You could, however, add a bigfoot sim to your household which made them fully playable. The hardest part about adding Bigfoot to your household was finding him. While on vacation, your sim needed to find a hidden treasure map that opened up the ability to visit their secret lot.

There wasn’t much to Bigfoot sims that set them apart from any other life state. The best thing about them was that they always have all skills and talent badges maxed out when they’re added to your family. It’s incredibly easy for them to be promoted at work because unlike other sims, they don’t require a certain number of friends each promotion.

Bigfoot is the occult I have the least amount of faith in returning as a Sims 4 life state. If there was ever a time to do it, it would have been in the Outdoor Retreat game pack. Instead, we got sims dressed in bear costumes. I really can’t see them making an appearance in Sims 4, but I’m ok with that. They don’t really have a selling point that makes them worthy of reappearing.

Mummy

Sims 3 World Adventures

World Adventures in Sims 3 added the mummy life state. These occult sims were found when exploring the sprawling tombs across the three vacation worlds the expansion pack added. Some players may not have even known this was a playable life state as they were mostly an enemy NPC made to cause havoc on your adventures and slow down your exploration of the tombs. You could either summon a mummy into your household or turn your sim into one by sleeping in a cursed sarcophagus. 

Like Bigfoot, mummies didn’t have much that separated them from other sim types. Their biggest advantage was that they never needed to pee or sleep. They also had incredibly long lifespans compared to other life states. Aside from that, they had all the same needs as any other sim. Their biggest downfall was their speed. They moved at a glacial pace and would frequently be late for anything as they limped their way across the world.

I don’t foresee mummies being added as Sims 4 life states. The best chance of them being introduced would have been Jungle Adventure, but we got skeletons for that instead. Like with Bigfoot, I’m not too torn up over their absence because they didn’t have much that set them apart from regular sims.

Imaginary Friend

Sims 3 Generations

Sims 3 Generations added what is probably the most polarizing life state, imaginary friends. I personally don’t understand the disdain for them and find them to be one of the most unique and interesting life state concepts ever created. I was surprised to see how many players disliked them and found them annoying for one reason or another.

For those unaware, imaginary friends started out as a doll that is delivered to your house when a baby is born. If your toddler/child sim played with the doll enough it became sentient, but only in the eyes of the child. If your kid played with their sentient imaginary friend and you switched control to someone else in the household you’d no longer be able to see them. Only when you switched back to the child would they become visible again. These imaginary friends were great companions for your children growing along with them and always giving them a playmate.

In their initial sentient form, they were treated as NPCs and couldn’t be controlled aside from having your sim ask them to do things. There was a way, however, a way to make an imaginary friend real which added them to the household and made them fully controllable. Unfortunately, once an imaginary friend became real there was very little that differed between them and normal sims. They could switch back to their plushie form at will, they had a fun walk style, and they got excited when doing different mundane things for the first time, but that’s it. 

Had they maintained some unique aspects even once turned human this life state would have been even better than it already was. Even so, they’re still one of the most unique life states because they’re not based on a traditional occult being like almost every other. Sadly, I don’t see these returning as Sims 4 life states. There are a few different packs they could have made a grand entrance, such as the Growing Together expansion pack or Parenthood game pack. A child-oriented pack that would include these seems quite unlikely at this point.

Genie

Sims Livin’ Large, Sims 2 FreeTime, Sims 3 Showtime

While genies appeared in both Sims and Sims 2, it wasn’t until Sims 3 that they were an actual playable life state. Previously, genies resided in a mysterious lamp that you could rub to summon them to make three wishes. That’s it, nothing more to them. They were NPCs relegated to that role without a way of making them playable or transforming your sim into one.

Sims 3 Showtime is when they were finally made into a fully realized life state. While you couldn’t turn your sim into a genie, you could release the NPC version from their lamp which added them to your household. You could then woohoo and try for a baby with the genie in the hopes of their offspring having all of the genie abilities for themselves.

Once a genie was freed from their lamp, they could no longer grant wishes. They still had plenty of other unique perks and abilities. A few of their powers included magically cleaning a sim or the lot, summoning food instantly, and mind controlling sims for a few hours which temporarily added the sim to the household.

I definitely see genies returning as Sims 4 life states at some point because they’ve been in every game previously in some capacity. Whether or not they’ll be a playable life state or just an NPC is completely up in the air.

Zombie

Sims Livin’ Large, Sims 2 University, Sims 3 Supernatural

For a life state that has made an appearance in every game aside from Sims 4, it still feels completely underutilized and underdeveloped. Honestly, pretty universally been more of a nuisance than an interesting concept.

In Livin’ Large zombie sims largely functioned identically to other sims. Aside from their greenish skin tone and complete lack of personality points they were essentially a regular sim. 

In Sims 2 University (and later the later expansion packs FreeTime and Apartment Life) they also differed very little from regular sims. They had blue-gray skin, odd expressions, and a slow shamble. When I say slow, I mean slooooow. They took an annoyingly long amount of time to get anywhere as they only had one speed: glacial pace.

In Sims 3 Supernatural the zombie life state was a mostly temporary affair. You could purposely find a way to make your sim a zombie permanently, but honestly, I don’t know why you would. These zombies, again, were incredibly slow. This annoyance is exacerbated by the Sims 3 open world style.

Like the imaginary friends, the zombies in Sims 3 were quite a controversial add to the game. Each full moon random sims in town would turn into zombies for the night and attack your household trying to bite them and turn them into zombies as well. There was a specific item, the pea shooter, that was used to protect your household from the zombie spawn. The issue with this was that it was a pre-order exclusive for the Supernatural expansion pack. Not only that, but you needed to register your pack to the Sims 3 store to then be able to download the item. 

With or without the pea shooter item, they were still just an utter annoyance in the game. There wasn’t a payoff to them because zombies had very little differences to them, none of which are positive.

I can absolutely see zombies returning as Sims 4 life states at some point. I’m actually quite surprised they haven’t already. One could argue the possessed sims from StrangerVille function largely the same as zombies, but I think there’s space for both of them to coexist in the game.

Future Sims 4 Life States

As far as I’m concerned, I’m not banging on the door of EA demanding any of these return as Sims 4 life states. I feel genies and zombies have the best chances since they’ve appeared in every other version. Imaginary friends are my personal favorite of the bunch, but I’m fine with having them stay as a unique Sims 3 memory. Bigfoot and mummies feel too niche and specific for the packs they were included in that I don’t see them being on the radar for a future inclusion.

Now that we’re finally getting fairies, I feel like all of the main occults have been added as Sims 4 life states at this point and everything else is just a bonus but not necessary.

So, there you have it. All of the missing life states in one list. What do you think? Do you see any of these making a return as Sims 4 life states any time soon?

Stay tuned to our coverage of the next Sims 4 expansion pack, Enchanted by Nature for more information about the newest life state, fairies.