The Sims 4

A simulator of social and public life, a continuation of the popular game series The Sims. The character builder will open new facets of creativity thanks to an expanded toolkit: for example, you can choose a hobby and passion for your computer person, define social skills and memories, and select life and career goals.

Other game tools have also been improved: now you can easily build the house of your dreams or set a daily action plan for your character. The game has significantly improved animation, characters move and act more smoothly and naturally. They also express their emotions much more vividly, influenced by various random events throughout the day and even their clothing.

Sims 4 aims to realistically embody everyday life in a virtual world, with all its joys and sorrows, challenges and successes, love and hate, friendship and enmity. Those who wish to play their alter ego can create one character; build a dynasty — two; but you can also just live as a large friendly family — from children to the elderly. Moreover, NPCs are not just dumb dolls, but have character and traits.

An important part of the gameplay is taking care of the character and fulfilling their wishes/needs, otherwise they may die. Remaining behind the scenes, the player orchestrates the character's self-realization throughout their life: whether they will have love at first sight or a series of failed romances, whether they will become successful and happy or sink to social depths and lose everything, whether they will gather a large group of friends or spend all evenings alone.

In addition to personal and social goals, there is a construction function. You can start a campaign on bare land and earn enough for a huge mansion, building it to your taste, or move into a small house right away, later completely renovating it. Additionally, you will need to furnish bare walls with furniture, think about decor, and buy appliances. Often, you will need to sell a window to buy a microwave.

In Sims 4, there is no single open space; instead, there is a large set of maps (worlds) in the format of: metropolis, small town, low-rise suburb, countryside, resort, wilderness. Besides the landscape, they are made unique by a wide range of biomes: deserts and forests, savannas and tropics, as well as a system of seasons and building architecture.

Thus, in the metropolis, there are many skyscrapers and penthouses, while on the tropical island, the player will find huts of the local tribe and villas of the wealthy. There are many more areas for entertainment: outdoor recreation, gym, picnics, fishing, visiting a museum or library, going to a bar or nightclub with friends.

The worlds are divided into districts, which require loading times between them, but the space inside is better open for exploration and more populated than in The Sims 3. Characters can be scattered across worlds, and then you can switch between them, with characters remaining where you left them.

The fictional world is populated by sims — computer characters with almost full personalities, achieved through a multi-component role-playing system.

The game features 6 main skill groups: exact sciences, hobbies, communication, creativity, cooking, sports, and each skill in the group has 10 levels of development. Some skills can be set when creating a character, while others are unlocked in the game. Skills improve through their use, i.e., the more you program, cook, or run, the better the sim masters them.

Skills are necessary for everyday life: technical proficiency allows you to repair electrical appliances, fishing skills prevent starvation, and charm mastery easily helps to make new friends or build romantic relationships.

Skills will also be useful in Careers — a game mode where the sim goes to a job (dozens of options) and earns money. The more developed the sim is, and the more tasks they have completed, the higher they will climb the career ladder. There are also professions (detective, doctor, scientist, actor) where the player directly manages and controls the sim's work process, completes unique quests, and can make various decisions that affect the character's career.

Traits (divided into 5 groups) and life goals (20 categories) are an important part of a sim's "personality." The former add unique preferences, dialogue responses, actions, and behavior options. The latter are akin to major desires, such as "to love and be loved" or "to build the perfect family."

In Sims 4, there is no specific plot; the player writes the sim's (family's) story themselves. Like in any sandbox, it's worth setting a specific goal first — to earn a beautiful life, build and furnish a huge house, befriend all the sims in the neighborhood — and then bring it to life.

The single-player game is influenced by dozens of situations, from a small fire to a conflict with a neighbor, from a pleasant encounter to an unexpected adventure. Some of them arise spontaneously, while others may be the result of previous actions. The player can actively influence what happens or do nothing, which will affect future events.

At the same time, the game is not limited to just decent behavior and good deeds. You can role-play a loving polyamorous heroine, a cunning invader of large houses, a plunderer of ancient tombs, or even a tyrant who kills their characters in twisted ways.