Here’s what the characters from The Sims Project X are allegedly going to look like.
The rumors about The Sims Project X keep spreading like wildfire. First we got some talks spreading that The Sims 4 will be getting its last Expansion Pack release in 2026, with The Sims Team planning to move focus towards a new The Sims Base Game. We got a response from an EA Community Manager shortly after, saying that there’s a lot of misinformation going around – we’ll be back in early January with what to know…“. However, it was later discovered by community members that EA and Maxis are hiring a new person to work for The Sims Project X.
Today, we got a special discovery with an alleged first look of The Sims Project X Sims Characters and their design for PC / Desktop / Console playstyle.
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Alleged First Look at The Sims Project X Characters
We got an email in our Sims Community inbox with an image of a supposed character preview of The Sims Project X Sims characters. The email only contained “Project X” in the email subject with a never before seen screenshot…

The screenshot that was sent to us displays four different Sims characters. They look more detailed and polished from the character design that we have in The Sims 4. But these could just be first render previews of what The Sims Team is aiming at to deliver and not be representative of the final product.
Either way, here’s the image:

The file name itself is written as TSX_MATERIAL_SIMS_EXPLORATORY, which could be indicating that it’s a Concept Preview of the new Sims characters that we’ll be able to “Create beyond limits” in The Sims Project X.
Original Rumor Information About The Sims Project X
The first talks about the official features coming to The Sims Project X came from a forum member on ATRL who claimed to have gained some knowledge about the next Sims Base game installment. Stating that the game is a single player standalone experience from the upcoming Sims Project Rene multiplayer installment, and will serve as a new generation of Sims products and game releases.

The Sims Project X: Original Rumor
Shared by ATRL user gloamingthepain / alleged former Firemonkeys employee
The single player part of Project Rene is being sold separately, releasing end of next year (at this stage) and is being referred to in playtests as Project X.
Aspects of the Sims 4 are carrying over, but it is a seperate game.
Originally, the single player part of Rene would be included in the full game of “Project Rene” but they’ve decided to seperate different experiences into seperate games.
This new game will have more flashy features like Open Neighbourhoods, busier Neighbourhoods (I heard up to 3x busier than Sims 4), better graphics (similar to what we saw of the early Rene content, not the mobile playtests we’ve seen).

The game however will be more simplistic than Sims 4 in other ways as the single player experience of Rene was never meant to compete with The Sims 4 and was more a simplified single player offering in a game focusing on multiplayer, and to keep the Sims 4 as the flagship single player game.
However, EA are keen to retire the Sims 4, simply because both QA and development costs have risen substantially in the last 24 months as the game has become complex to keep maintaining while developing new content.
A main factor of this is many of the bug reports & broken save files are being caused due to mods and custom content, and they want to move on with a game that will have smarter tech that can identify mod related issues easier, as now hundreds of hours of QA for The Sims 4 is being wasted on trying to replicate issues that are mod related and not in the vanilla game. This means the new game will allow them to streamline to get fixes in the game faster, and waste less time trying to replicate and fix bugs that don’t exist in the vanilla game.
So to compensate for The Sims 4 coming to a close, certain fan favourite features of The Sims 4, as well as planned Sims 4 content will be added to this new game instead.
I have no idea what EA will call this game, but it’s not a Sims 4 remaster and it’s not the Sims 5.
They may decide to call it The Sims 5 for sake of ease, or maybe stick with The Sims 4 brand in hopes it attracts those players, but either way it’s not a proper sequel.
It’s the single player mode of Rene being sold a standalone game and will be nowhere near as complex as proper sequel would be.
I’m sure it will be fun, but I’m sure many will identify where it falls short to The Sims 4, while acknowledging the tech advancements of a new engine and better hardware.
That’s all I really know as I don’t work at Firemonkeys anymore & only know info from people who work there who are very focused on Freeplay.
Some additional information was shared by another Sims insider, claiming to know more about the last Sims 4 Expansion Pack and the internal team plans of development after the last Royalty-themed EP is out. Stating that the team will only to continue delivering Game Updates and Kits releases for The Sims 4 moving afterwards!
There’s more features waiting to be discovered by this alleged new Sims Base Game. At least we now know what this Project is planned to look like for the new generation of Sims characters! Let’s hope this image is real and we didn’t fall for a very good image edit…
EA and Maxis are planned to make an announcement soon enough to clarify all the rumors. Let’s see what they also think of the first look shared above. For all our readers, we want to know what you think of switching over in our unofficial community poll below:
What are your thoughts on the alleged first look of The Sims Characters in The Sims Project X, a new single player Base Game experience rumored for a late 2026 release? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned on Sims Community for all things Project X!


That… does not look half bad. I should re-read stuff about it, because it’s starting to not sound half-bad, either. I don’t have the slightest plan of giving ea and especially ts4 any more of my money, but I hope this is a win for sims 4 players because omg. They/me up to a year ago are in dire need of one.
Not sure if this is an unpopular opinion…
I also won’t give EA any money after this sh!tty Saudi scandal
Yup! It’s an extra incentive for those of us who can’t quite trust ourselves just avoiding a sunk cost fallacy
They’re just going to take a half-assed port of the base TS4 + Seasons and put it on top of a standard UEFN base and call it TS5, sell objects that are already ready in the UE Store to the devs and sell them at high prices, the other expansions will probably be the only thing that will arrive for free in this game because they are already ready from TS4, probably the object collections will be very expensive to compensate for that, this will be the worst game that Maxis//EA will ever make, mark my words.
wow, gotta say the graphics look very good
The filename suggests the game might be called The Sims X?
i assume that must be placeholder, hopefully they don’t fumble the name and just make it easy to understand for everyone, i sincerely hope they just call it The Sims 5
I can only imagine how mad people would be at that. They have been asking for sims 5 for some 6 years now, only for it to be recycled content… though at this point it seems like ea believes any publicity is good publicity, so I can’t really put it past them.
at least it will improve in many aspects compared to 4, you don’t necessarily need to start from scratch to serve a proper sequel
Idk if calling it a sequel is quite right. Maybe more like a soft reboot? I do think it can be a good thing to make a solid foundation, this game was doomed ever since project olympus.
It might as well be the sims 4 legacy edition, the sims 4, and the sims 4X or 4.5 or something. It shouldn’t be too hard to come up with a name that indicates it is still sims 4, but supposedly better… also without the false advertisement about it being actually new.
well, it’ll bring next gen features like open neighborhoods and more customization features for objects and sims so i don’t think calling it Sims 5 is a problem, it enhances the experience of 4 while keeping packs cross compatible. it’s just easier to understand, 4 is no longer going to receive expansions, this new game will, so i think calling it 5 is a better idea despite not being an entirely new game made from scratch.
Next gen? Maybe not so much, really. Open worlds were available in Sims2 along with custom swatches. It almost sounds like they’re combining features from each game (Sims 2&4). I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Seems like sims 3 with better graphics and quicker fixes…but I’m too invested in Sims 4. I don’t know if I can go through yet another game overhaul (been laying since the 90s with Sim city, sims 1, 2, 3, and now 4 :*(
Personally, I just can’t see a refurbished product as a new one. I wouldn’t paint over an old painting of mine and call it new. After all the advancements (and regressions) from sims game to sims game, refurbishing sims 4 and calling it 5 would be pathetic. Besides, they said not long ago they weren’t working on it. Backpaddling with a recycled product would not look good for them.
But neither of us are authorities on that, so we’ll just see!
@Damiam lmao I think I tapped to reply to my own comment
They will. If they call it anything else it will cause confusion. The sims 5 name will cause it to sell. Any other name people will think it’s a spinoff, expansion or console game. Not a good business decision if they do.
there are rumours going around that it’s gonna be called just “The Sims”, if they do that, they’ll be making a huge mistake, casual people will assume Sims 4 is the latest one because it has a number on it and there’s no game named Sims 5, if they simply call it The Sims 5, they’ll bring a lot of new players to the game and if they manage to make the transition easier for people who play Sims 4, they’ll have the best of both worlds.
Image is polished like you would expect an official render to be, seems like this game will be announced pretty soon
Having been in the community since 2007 and having followed all the speculation about new generations of the game and leaks in general, all of this seems very true to me at this point. Furthermore, this image strongly resonates with the initial tests for Project Rene’s graphics.
At the same time, there are so many possibilities. 1- It’s fake, 2- It’s AI, 3- Fan-made, 4- A real promotional image, 5- Rene but improve.
How is this even an article? A random e-mail with a clearly AI generated picture? Lmao.
Gorgeous. Can’t wait.
TS4 is bloated and overwhelming, I welcome a more chill experience with new technology.
The new Sims will inevitably grow to become a MASSIVE game eventually, anyway.
So you want to have pay for everything all over again, and wait potentially a decade+ for your favorite S4 feature to return if it even does. Like it took until almost the end of Sims 4 for Fairies to come back, and we’ve not yet gotten the future or plumbots for sims 4, among other things.
It doesn’t have my interest at all
Im honestly pissed about how much I’ve spent on the Sims 4, and I dont want to start from scratch. If nothing carries over, I have zero incentive to ever spend on any sequels for definitely the next decade.
As someone who plays sims 4 on ps4 pro and pc.I can already make sims who look that good without cc.
I like the look, and open neighborhoods is something I’ve been longing for. As is a game with less lagging and less bugs. But what I do not want is a game that is simpler than Sims 4, which is already far too simple and nothing in comparison to the complexity of sims 2 or 3.
The Sims in the pic look pretty nice, if they are real. The pic could be from anywhere with all the AI photo tools.
But I hope it will look like this and they don’t plan to go realistic with the sims graphics.
What ever the new developments are, any new Sims game well be Al included & old features will be repackaged & sold back in a paywall of some type.
Basically what my understanding is of the problem in the game is the game was never developed to hold mods & the Devs are trying to adjust the game with updates to include mod use… So players need to slow down or stop using so many mods & just try & enjoy the game for what it is.
Sometimes I’m afraid the new base game will come out rushed and it’ll be underwhelming just like the sims 4 base game was. I am still waiting for cars in Sims 4(they could work exactly like those in sims 2) and then they can move on to another game ☺️my opinion
I’m fine with this. The sims 4 engine is crumbling under the weight of too much content and expansions and needs to move on to a new base game. There’s just no delaying this anymore. And the characters in this image don’t look that bad honestly.
Where is this guy Tommy, he seems to know a lot hahaha I wonder what he thinks about that…
I feel like they always drop some kind of hint to the name in the game already. In the sims 2, they had the sims 3 game on the computer. In sims 4 it’s called sims forever, maybe could be that?
that “sims forever” on the computer has existed for a while before sims 4
I mean they don’t look bad. I don’t typically prefer cartoony graphics but I don’t hate their look. I’m just not confident in the project after the way S4 turned out. As much as I love this franchise I feel like they’re just beating a dead horse atp and should let the franchise die.
It basically looks like ts4. Honestly I tired of this graphic. Absolutely no visual evolution. Is that the best that ea can do after 11 years of ts4? I mean it’s same as if gta 6 will have same graphics as previous games.
Small hope for gameplay features, but not big ones
I don’t mean to sound bad, or anything like that. But as a gamer to gamers. I am sick of people griping about sims 4 and the fact that it is own by them new people. The same people that worked on the game are still working on it. It’s this new people signing their checks. After all most of the gas we use is owned by them people over there. It haven’t stopped none of y’all from driving, a lot of your things that you own from overseas. Are made from child labor in almost slave like conditions, but you still buy it. So stop all the hate. I hope this is an update for the sims 4 to bring it up to current generation gaming standards. After all, look how much money we got invested in Sims 4. They said years ago they were not going to make a sims 5. If they change their mind good, if thay don’t good. Get over it. If you’re sick of the Sims 4 stop playing it. But hey this is the first sims game where it didn’t matter what you played it on. We were all treated the same. They didn’t just make D.L.C. for one group. We all got it. If you don’t like the new D.L.C. thay make, no one’s making you buy it. But keep this in mind, E.A. owns the Sims be happy they’re still supporting it. Because after all E.A. doesn’t have the best reputation in gaming. Sorry, if this came off as a rant. If anybody on the sims team reads this please keep up the good work. Thank you.
1. The whataboutism doesn’t work too well with essential products x a dollhouse simulator.
2. Lots of us are not into financing human rights violations from that government (not just a company from that country, as ea is to the US).
3. Some of us had already been boycotting because of the lackluster and broken content. Why are we still here? Because we love the franchise and want to keep up with what’s being made of it.
And friendly reminder I can express my opinion just as much as you can. It is an open comment section after all. Just saying this because of the complaints about other people’s complaints.
Honestly I don’t hate it. I do wish they would deviate more from the cartoony Sims 4 style and find a better balance in stylized realism. But still, I’m glad to see more polygons.
These look good, not great but good. Too much realism gives an uncanny vibe, but I think they could have added a bit more skin details, lighting and texture. But they do look like upgraded Sims 4 models.
Moving to a new base game means losing a decade worth of DLC, trays, custom content and mods.
That’s a big yiikes in my book and I’ll stick to Sims 4.
A new game without backward compatibility in trays and custom content/mods will take many years to reach the amount of content TS4 has.
It’s AI. look at the headphones. On one side, the band connects the ear piece on the outside but on the other, it runs through the middle
How many simoleons you wanna bet it will be a subscription model with massive microtransactions? Will it even be playable offline?