So much has been made about the features that have been “cut” from The Sims 4 that there’s barely been any room to discuss the features that developer Maxis has added.
Given that Maxis and EA kept so uncharacteristically quiet about the game prior to the game’s release, even failing to hand out review copies of the game before it landed on store shelves/Origin, there’s still a lot about The Sims 4 that fans of the series don’t know about.
Also See: The Sims 4 Review
In the gallery below we’ve revealed some features that you probably didn’t even know were in the new game. Check it out.,
The Sims 4: Features You Didn't Know Were in the Game
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You can create ridiculous Sims
The Sims 4's Create-a-Sim is now more intuitive than ever, allowing users to create much more elaborate characters with which to populate their world.
This image shows just how grotesquely disproportionate players can make their Sims, and while it's not exactly a style that will be favored by those who prefer to keep their game grounded in reality, it's certainly one that is befitting of the games' more cartoony, Pixar-esque art style.
Create-a-Sim has been completely overhauled this time around, with the sliders featured in The Sims games of old being replaced by a mechanic which allows users to push, pull and tug at their Sims' faces and bodies in order to transform them into both beautiful and horrifying creations. This one definitely falls in the latter camp.
Photo: Reddit.com/u/LuBuFengXian
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The graphics look very nice considering their limitations
The Sims 4 may have been specifically designed so that it could be run on low-end PCs, but that doesn't mean that it isn't a good-looking game.
There's nothing technically astounding about it, but the art style and visual direction has to be admired. With the Sims themselves now more appealing in the looks department and the overall "fuzzy" quality of The Sims 3's graphics being replaced by a pristine, shinier aesthetic, The Sims 4 looks just as smooth as it runs.
Photo: Reddit.com/u/frakkin
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Female Sims now have to take a pregnancy test
The excitement/trauma of childbirth first begins with the sex, and then the pregnancy test. This is something that The Sims series has always skipped across, but not in The Sims 4. Now you have to get your Sim to pee on a stick if you want to find out whether or not she's pregnant, after purchasing one from a local store.
While this may seem like a minor inclusion, The Sims has always been about those small moments of excitement you share with your created characters, and is there anything more excitement than someone finding out they're pregnant? Well if it was an accident then, sure, finding out you're not pregnant would probably be more enjoyable, but in Sims-world, getting knocked up is always fun.
Photo: Reddit.com/u/frakkin
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You can have bad WooHoo
True to life, your Sims can have disappointing sex in The Sims 4, which can leave them in a bad mood.
In previous games "WooHoo" was always a seemingly exciting experience for your Sims, but in The Sims 4 you can find yourself informed of one of your Sims' "poor performance" in the sack, thus rendering them embarrassed.
See, it can happen to everyone. Even characters in a video game.
Photo: Reddit.com/u/hikyuri
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Free camera lets you explore like never before...
Entering the tab-mode free camera allows you to take some wonderful screenshots of your neighborhood in The Sims 4, but apparently Maxis has refused to put any limit on just how far out the camera can venture.
Entering the free camera mode can allow the player to venture further out than they'd ever need to, breaking free of the game's skybox and into a weird, surreal world where fish apparently roam free.
While it's likely that Maxis didn't put strict restrictions on the use of the free camera in order to ensure that players could take photos from any angle, we weren't expecting the camera to be THIS free of limitations.
Photo: Reddit.com/u/Simify
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Take photos of your food
This is the Instagram generation, where people can't pour themselves a cup of coffee without uploading a photo of it to one of various social networking sites. The Sims 4 acknowledges this, and now Sims can take photos of their food with their always-handy cellphones.
Cellphones are now a much more prominent feature of The Sims 4, with many tasks being able to be performed using them. The most useful element of your Sims' phones, though, is undoubtedly the ability to take snapshots of burgers.
Photo: Reddit.com/u/roseetgris
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The size of items can be increased
We're not sure why you'd ever want to have a giant horse looming over your house, but in The Sims 4 it's certainly a possibility.
The size of items in the game can now be increased and decreased, which in theory simply allows for you to customize your furniture to suit your desires, but in practice will likely result in you placing huge monstrosities in your lot.
While we wouldn't suggest you go ahead and create a neighborhood filled with giant chairs and tables in order to make it look like something from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, it's inevitable that you will. Go ahead. Do your worst.
Photo: Reddit.com/u/SpyroHF
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Aliens ARE in the game... kind of
Although aliens were confirmed to have been removed from The Sims series in The Sims 4, it transpires that players can actually obtain an alien being as a pet.
The following was posted on Reddit by acidyen, accompanied by the photo of the alien life form you can see on the left: "While playing through my current game, I decided to pick up the rocket science career. Well, with rocket science naturally comes space exploration. This is done in a rabbit hole type style, and by that I mean you don't follow your sim, but pop ups for random activity may occur during the exploration. During my exploration today, I ran across an Alien that needed help moving to another place. With this Alien opportunity, I tried to cram too many things into my rocket, thus cracking some of his items. He in turn gave me his "pet."
"So with regard to Aliens in the base game, they are here, but not in the way many of us may have expected. And if anyone is wondering, the "pet" moves its eyes around non stop in a very creepy fashion."
As you can see, the alien "pet" is described as a "live red coral." We're not sure we prefer this over alien abductions and the like, but hey, at least we get to keep it.
Photo: Reddit.com/u/acidyen
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Venues are no longer barren wastelands
While The Sims 4 is lacking in activities for your Sims to engage in, one big plus point is that the community venues featured in the game can now become packed with the inhabitants of your Sims' neighborhood.
This means that getting to know your fellow Sims outside of your own lot is much easier, ridding the necessity of having to travel to their house, spending a few hours awkwardly sitting in their living room before returning home.
While The Sims 4 is no longer open-world, having more heavily populated community lots means that you'll likely become better acquainted with your neighbors than you would have done aimlessly roaming the streets in The Sims 3.
Photo: Reddit.com/u/Scratchproof
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Multitasking
Perhaps the biggest new addition to the The Sims 4's gameplay is that Sims are now able to multitask. This means that they can now talk to each other while working on their computer and even read a book whilst pooping.
While this may seem like a minor addition, veteran Sims fans will understand just how much of a dramatic effect this has on gameplay. No longer will hundreds of actions pile up on the top of your screen for each Sim, as they can now perform two at once, thus making them more accurately resemble real human beings.
Photo: Reddit.com/u/Peregrine21591
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It still looks good on ultra low graphics settings
The image you see here was taken by Reddit user VulpineComplex whilst running on Ultra Low graphics settings. Maxis and EA had previously stated that the game was intended to look nice even on lower-end systems, but it's pretty impressive how reasonable it looks with all the graphics options turned down to the bare minimum.
While we won't be playing it on such a low-end PC, it's great to know that every Sims fan will get a chance to experience this game even if the PC/laptop they're playing it on is a lump of trash.
Photo: Reddit.com/u/VulpineComplex
