On January 10th The Sims' official Twitter account posted a teaser of the game's upcoming roadmap, sending the fandom into a frenzy of speculation about what's to come in 2023. One of the most anticipated and longed-for DLC themes is a family-focussed "Generations" pack, which the teaser - with its mention of "The Michaelson Reunion" and "It's All Relative!" tagline - alludes to.
A fan-favorite pack for The Sims 3, the Generations expansion came with a host of new features to make family gameplay more exciting. It brought new features for nearly every life stage like imaginary friends for children, mood swings for teens, and randomly generated midlife crises for adults. This kind of expansion would bring some much-needed additional depth to The Sims 4 and there are some key features many fans would like to see in any exploration of the theme.
Expanded Family Trees
One of the biggest bugbears for family players in The Sims 4 is the incredibly limited, and often glitchy, family tree feature. In the games since The Sims 2, the family tree - also known as Genealogy in The Sims 4 - is a UI panel where players can see the other Sims in a family and how they relate to the currently selected Sim.
However, the family tree in The Sims 4 is currently nowhere near as detailed as in previous iterations. Players can only see five generations back and any connections outside immediate family, like cousins, aunts, and uncles, do not appear. A Generations-style expansion for The Sims 4 would be a great opportunity for a more detailed family tree.
Improved Family Relationships
Another downside for family players in The Sims 4 is that relations outside a Sim's immediate family are not recognized in-game. So, for example, Sims will not know their cousins exist unless the player has the two Sims meet and forge a relationship. The game also doesn't recognize relationships like step-parents and step-siblings.
Sims with these connections will interact with each other in the same way as Sims who are friends or acquaintances, and it's an obvious area a family-focused, Generations pack could expand upon. some of the best player-created The Sims 4 challenges revolve around creating big families, so deeper connections means more satisfying gameplay, and players will have to rely on their own imaginations less to make the game enjoyable.
More Family Activities
A free update to The Sims 4 in 2021 introduced new abilities for children - cooking and gardening. While child Sims can now garden alone, cooking was added as part of a group activity that can be done with Sims who are teens or older in a fun new family activity. This lays the foundation for more, similar group activities to be added in a family-oriented pack.
So far, group activities in The Sims 4 have been somewhat limited. Features like snowball and water-balloon fights that came with The Sims 4 Seasons have simple animations and lack depth. A Generations pack would be the perfect opportunity to add some more meaningful family interactions and activities that simultaneously build relationships and skills.
A Memory System
First introduced in The Sims 2, a memory system takes key events in a Sims life - like their first kiss, being cheated on, having a baby, or a relative dying - and stores them for players to look back on in future. In The Sims 2, memories could affect Sims for the rest of their lives - impacting their happiness and changing how they feel about other Sims. In The Sims 3 Generations, Sims could record their memories to watch back on the TV. In The Sims 4, however, the memory system is still absent.
Again, introducing a memory system would be a great way to add some much-needed depth to The Sims 4's gameplay, particularly if it follows The Sims 2's route and includes milestone memories that affect every part of a Sim's life.
Activities For Elders
The elder life stage has been somewhat neglected in every Sims game, and that trend continues with The Sims 4. While it's a positive that elders can do everything that young adult and adult Sims can do in the game, it also means that there's no real incentive to play with them after they age up into the final life stage and, with only so many activities and ways to cheat death in The Sims 4, gameplay can become somewhat stagnant.
While The Sims 4 does have some activities older generations stereotypically enjoy - like knitting with the Nifty Knitting stuff pack and cross-stitching thanks to Cottage Living - it's crying out for some exclusive, elder-centric interactions, activities, or even a lot type. One feature that could make elders more interesting is a University-dorm style retirement community where they can bond with other elders.
More Party Options
Parties - otherwise known as Social Events - are a fun aspect of The Sims 4, but there are plenty of expansion opportunities in a Generations-style pack. The official 2023 teaser mentions "The Michaelson Reunion" which could hint at a family reunion social event - although the game did get a "Family Gathering" option with the My Wedding Stories game pack - but there is plenty more besides that could be added for deeper family and generational gameplay.
Funerals and wakes are events that are sorely missing from The Sims 4, baby showers would be something new for the franchise, or it could also be a good opportunity to add more diversity to the game with social events from different cultural backgrounds.
Midlife Crises For Adults
One of the most fun aspects of The Sims 3 generations were the randomly generated midlife crises that could occur during the adult life stage. These would add moodlets that affected the Sim and also generate wishes like "buy a new car worth at least §10,000" and "quit job." Just like in real life, the midlife crisis wouldn't affect every Sim and was calculated on a points-based system according to things that had happened in the Sim's life.
Playing with adults can sometimes become stagnant if they're settled into a career, had children, or fulfilled their lifetime wishes. The midlife crisis could a new level of gameplay for older Sims to keep things fresh for players and add some more family-focused drama.
Pre-Teen Life Stage
Infants are coming to The Sims 4, a brand-new life stage between babies and toddlers. This is a happy addition for fans who always welcome new free features, especially those that give more depth to gameplay and more to do in The Sims 4. However, while infants was an unexpected life stage, there is another that fans have been calling out for since the games' release: pre-teens.
Fitting in between children and teenagers, a pre-teen life stage would provide something never before seen in the Sims franchise, helping to elongate a Sims lifespan and provide more time to flesh out their personality. To make it worth inclusion in a paid-for DLC rather than a free update like infants, the pre-teen stage could come with new interactions and activities exclusive to this group.
Daycare Centers
Another great feature added with The Sims 3 Generations was the Daycare career that enabled Sims to own and run their own daycare center, either in their home or on another lot. The daycare career was highly rewarding and even if it isn't featured as a high-paying career path in The Sims 4, daycare centers where child, toddler, and infant Sims can meet would be a plus in a new Generations-esque pack.
Not only would a daycare center come with plenty of cute kid-themed Build/Buy assets, it would be a great way for younger Sims to make friends outside of school - thus opening the world up and making maintaining and building friendships in the game easier.
Randomized Traits At Birth
The joy of the Sims is that it's all about player choice - the Simmer is almost always in control of what the Sims do and how they turn out. However, there is a subset of players who enjoy when control is taken out of their hands. After all, the unexpected can make the game more enjoyable.
Currently, as Sims age up players can select their specific traits - meaning they can model the Sims' personalities however they want. The option is also given to randomize the traits, but players can still remove ones they don't like. Randomized traits, that are pre-determined at a Sim's birth and locked in throughout their life, would be a great way to bring a little more spontaneity and chaos in a Generations pack.