Summary
The Sims 4has had its ups and downs over the course of its nearly ten-year history, but the next expansion pack has a lot of potential to bring it closer to the idealSimsexperience.The Simsfranchise has traditionally followed an expansion-heavy model, supplementing each successive base game with an overload of additional purchases to add and improve features. Not every expansion forThe Sims 4is worth the purchase, but the best ones bring out the game’s underlying potential in ways that it hasn’t seen before.
The next expansion pack forThe Sims 4isLovestruck, which unsurprisinglyfocuses on the romantic optionsin the game. Romance has always been a huge part ofThe Sims, providing a way to build families or simply have fun with the characters. It’s actually somewhat surprising that it’s takenThe Sims 4a decade to dedicate an expansion solely to the concept, but the long wait may have only served to make the final arrival ofLovestruckmore anticipated than it ever would have been before.
The Sims 4 Is Finally Getting One Of The Series Most Iconic (And Spiciest) Items
The Sims 4 is looking for love as the game’s latest expansion is all about romance and seduction with the return of a classic piece of furniture.
The Sims 4: Lovestruck Fleshes Out Romance
This Is The Perfect Pack For Fans Of Love
The Sims 4: Lovestruck’s set of features promises to overhaul the process of meeting potential love interests and going on dates, with a lot of changes and additions to the process that haven’t been seen before.A new attraction system wrangles a set of Turn-Ons and Turn-Offsto determine partner satisfaction, covering interests and interactions alike. Appropriate to the times, a dating app called Cupid’s Corner also joins the fray, and it’s possible to plan out a variety of dates after finding a match in the app.
Not every addition inLovestruckwill necessarily have as much wide appeal as the basic overhauls to romance, but they all lean into the theme appropriately. A romance consultant career provides the opportunity to make a living off of love, anda new world called Ciudad Enamorada stands out as the best place for the flirtatious to start up a lifein the game.
The Sims 4 Made The Right Call Removing Disturbing Romance Feature
Some players of The Sims 4 have recently experienced an uncomfortable glitch involving the game’s romantic relationships that should be addressed.
Addressing Core Features Could Make Lovestruck Great
The Sims 4 Is Still Lacking In Some Basic Areas
The sum total of the contents isn’t as extensive as the most robust expansions forThe Sims 4, but the mechanical additions still stand out as potentially major improvements, andoverhauling something as basic as romance could bringThe Sims 4a lot closer to what many people have always wanted it to be. While adding expansiosn that takeThe Sims 4to fresh settings or explore new angles is always fun, the ones that cover core concepts tend to be the most widely significant, andpacks likeGrowing TogetherandSeasonsremain favorites for this reason.
The Sims 4 Growing Together DLC Understands Modern Relationships
The Sims 4 Growing Together acknowledges common forms of modern relationships in refreshing ways that can make players feel represented in the game.
The Sims 4: Lovestruckseems especially appealing for console players, who haven’t had the same modding luxury that PC players enjoy. Romance has been addressed by an extensive variety of mods on PC, which only goes to show how important it is for much of the community. Even on PC, modding the game can sometimes be a hassle, and the lack of access to mods on console has left these improvements off the table.
A good way to customizeThe Simswithout getting heavily into modding is downloading basiccustom content from websitesthat provide good curation features.
There’s still some cause for concern withThe Sims 4: Lovestruck, asexpansions have an unfortunate history of stability issues at launch. It might be wise to wait for reviews and see if the expansion releases in a state that’s worth buying, a practice that many players have begun to default to over the years. Unlike in the past, there’s at least some reason to be hopeful for the game’s future stability, as adevelopment team focusing on core fixeswas formed earlier this year to help address common complaints.
It’s also still a shame thatThe Sims 4’s base game remains as anemic as it is, as having to rely on expansions to make core features stronger has never been ideal. Within that business model, however, it’s certainly exciting to get an expansion that focuses on something that matters as much as romance.The Sims 4may always be divisive in some aspects, but ifThe Sims 4: Lovestruckpulls off what it promises, it could make the game much more satisfying for a lot of its fans.
