Who Doesn’t Love A Good Comeback?
With the batch of new townies presented in The Sims 4 Adventure Awaits, we’re met again with a familiar face: Skip Broke! This memorable Sim from The Sims 2 was more of a plot point than a playable character. This, however, hasn’t stopped him from becoming a part of The Sims 2‘s storied history; so much so that he was included in the list of memorable missing persons during the Blast from the Past event earlier this year!
So let’s see what this ‘Prolific Father” is up to in Gibbi Point, and examine the sleeper lore reveal that The Sims Team snuck in. Because, boy, is it a bit of a doozie.
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Who Is Skip Broke Again?
In The Sims 2? Skip Broke is dead. Not even in the fun, dubious way that makes Bella Goth’s legacy so iconic. Poor guy drowned in a “mysterious pool ladder incident” as described in his bereaved family’s description.
While Skip can be resurrected in-game with cheats, the implied story is about his widow, Brandi, keeping her head above water after this tragic accident, raising her boys, Dustin and Beau, and, on top of that, her surprise baby on the way! Not to mention her oldest’s sudden interest in criminal activity.
It’s all a bit much, right? For a poor widow and her children to encounter so much hardship in the wake of such a tragedy.
This, of course, is all very dependent on the fact that he’s dead and gone and unable to parent…
It All Starts With a (Scribbled) Letter
If you want to know the deets, make your way down to the Lonely Lighthouse in Gibbi Point’s Jellyfish Junction neighborhood. The lighthouse is on a little island in the bay that you can swim to. When you make landfall, click on the lighthouse, and you’ll be given the option to read a ‘Scribbled Letter‘. There’s the option to respond to another letter (and turn the lighthouse on and off), but that’s not the focus of this article.
The story unfolds over the course of three letters, and each letter takes the form of a chance card. In each card, a “mystery” Sim laments their inability to be consistent and present in their life. “Bailing” when the times get tough, and admittedly abandoning loved ones in doing so. I’ve highlighted the best responses in each image.
Obviously, they’re the ones that are most empathetic to the Sim’s feelings and encourage them to work through their emotions. The story can take up to three in-game days for the speediest resolution, or perhaps a bit more if your Sim decides to select ‘(Don’t Write A Response Yet)‘ to draw it out for optimal realism.
When you reply, you also get this unique Inspired moodlet. Nifty. It also occurs when you reply to the author of the ‘Nature Letter’, but, again, not this article!
A day or so after the last card, Skip will reveal himself as the one who left the letter. He asks you to ask him about it next time you see him, and he gains a unique dialogue option in his social menu called ‘Ask about Lighthouse Letter’.
Unfortunately, you aren’t able to really have a “conversation” about it. Instead, you’re given an update card on how you helped him to turn over a new leaf. Skip Broke is a Loyal Sim now! Seems like he really “saw the light.” Badam tss.
The “Negative” Route
If your Sim is a bit more mischievous, they could choose, instead, to be flippant and rude in their responses. Though this largely seems to be a preference in flavor text, as Skip’s responses remain the same.
The interaction then follows the above—he thanks you for responding, asks you to ask him about it, etc. Though this time…
You’ve successfully convinced him to remain toxic and keep addressing all his issues by ghosting them! Nice job breaking it, hero!
Okay…but that Can’t Be It…Right?
No, that’s not, because on top of the storyline of Skip learning to take accountability (or not) with coaching from your particular Sim. He often references “bailing” when the times get tough.
As mentioned above, Skip Broke was first introduced in The Sims 2 as the deceased husband and father of an impoverished family, but in The Sims 4…
We learn from his relationship panel that Skip Broke is queer.
He’s open to exploring romantically, but his romantic preference is set to Men. This revelation has wowed Simmers (for lack of a better term) and made us re-examine the lore of The Sims 2 and the Broke family’s circumstances.
By his own admission…Skip Broke literally skipped out on his broke family. At a glance at his Lighthouse Letters, you could also say it was done regretfully and with much remorse. This is something that happens in real life, as well as something that’s now happened in-game. In both instances? It really, really sucks.
However, I just know you’re asking…
But Is It the Vibe?
The Sims Team has called The Sims 4 an “alternate universe” since launch. So, the Skip Broke of The Sims 4 doesn’t necessarily need to tie back perfectly to the Skip Broke of The Sims 2.
The world is different. This Sim is different. The Skip Broke living with roommates in Gibbi Point is more of an homage than anything. Though you can argue that it leaves a poor taste in your mouth if you connect the Lighthouse storyline of “bailing” back to his family in their trailer. Pairing that with the fact that Dustin Broke has been an in-game NPC as of The Sims 4 Get Famous, well, we may be in for a reunion soon.
At least, I hope so. As the only Broke we’re missing now with The Sims 4 Adventure Awaits is Brandi Broke, her son Beau, and the young baby Broke that The Sims Team will need to give an official name.
As “interesting” as this lore reveal has been, I think it’s brought some much-needed complexity and moral depth. Even if it isn’t a part of every playthrough, it’s still there, and hopefully, The Sims Team may build on these themes and give us something more in the backdrop of our gameplay.
How did you feel about the reintroduction of Skip Broke? Have you been enjoying the addition of iconic Sims, or have The Sims Team been missing the mark? Please, let us know in the comments down below, and keep an eye on Sims Community for all your The Sims 4 news!
I’m curious if they could have made skip and dustin related in the game or if it’s impossible because neither is base game.
It won’t change anything in the storyline but I think I’ll do it with MCCC, just like I did with Johnny and Nancy (but gave them a negative relationship)
I think the biggest problem is that his return was hyped up in the pre-release: ‘Ask us about the townies!’ ‘Skip has a lot of explaining to do about his fake death!’ ‘You should go visit the lighthouse to learn more!’ And then it just sort of peters out when you actually get there. He vaguely alludes to events without actually explaining anything except his own emotions, raising more questions than answers. If someone hadn’t played TS2 or looked it up, would they understand that Skip is talking about abandoning a wife and kids? Is that even what he’s referring to here, or does his TS4 incarnation have a totally different backstory?
Skip says he’s going to contact the people he hurt, but he never follows up on that even if you encouraged him to do so. Of course this was always going to be a problem when Dustin is treated as an unrelated townie and Brandi and Beau have no presence at all, but even a comment from Skip saying he talked to them off-screen would have been okay. Finishing his quest with the ‘correct’ responses acts like it’s a happy ending where he’s redeemed himself, but it doesn’t feel like an ending or a redemption at all. The bad outcome where Skip gives up on self-improvement feels like a more natural progression compared to that.
(And speaking of Dustin, imagine the horror I felt when Skip invited me to a romantic competition, and then Dustin showed up as a randomly-selected participant! Luckily the two of them had no direct interactions, but it was still incredibly awkward when the game pushed all participants to chat in a hot tub together and Dustin had to sit there watching me flirt with his dad-but-also-not-dad.)
Between this and Agora Tchotchke having no references at all to her role in Life Stories (they put her in the commune that runs romantic getaways/competitions, and they didn’t even let her reprise her role as the Mean Girl Villain?), it feels like they were reused solely for the purpose of advertisement. I don’t think returning characters should be an endless stream of “hey, do you remember Old Game?”, and I don’t even mind the idea of them changing with the continuity reboot. But there just doesn’t feel like there’s enough of a hook here beyond name recognition.
Nyon Specter did pretty well with the alternate universe concept in my opinion: He got to be raised by his mother and you see how living in the shadow of her reputation effects him. When Layne gets his trait reveal, Nyon even acknowledges it and tells you that’s why he doesn’t like him! In comparison Skip’s story proposes a what-if and then doesn’t do anything interesting about it besides letting you optionally change his traits.
semi-related, last time I played I found a bug where you can softlock the lighthouse quest by playing as Skip and responding to the scribbled letters. Eventually Skip gets a call from Skip asking to talk in person, but since he can’t ask himself the quest stops there, and from what I’ve seen no other Sim can start the quest at this point. Whoops! (I don’t know if the same can be done with the author of the nature letter, since I’d have to take the extra step of moving them into a house first.)
What an epic response! It really sums up my personal feelings about the Skip Broke reintroduction and how Adventure Awaits treats it. Also, wow! I hadn’t thought to attempt to play as Skip to see how he would react to his own letters, so that’s quite interesting. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. <3