As you might or might not know, The Sims franchise will turn 21 years old on 4 February 2021. A whole adult and a crown birthday. And one life-long player feeling very old writing this up.
As you might recall, last year’s 20th-anniversary celebration was a damp squib, so we are not going to get our hopes up too much. However, we can?t resist any longer.
Remember last year, before the Hispanic Heritage update, Sim Gurus started sharing all sorts of food-related Tweets, which had us wondering if the next pack might be something food-related? That update included some new recipes, but the food Tweets didn?t disappear entirely. In fact, some might say that the messages have increased.
Sim Gurus have regularly been sharing what might appear to be throwaway quips about what they’re munching on, but when Sim Guru Frost does something similar, people take notice.
He of the Subtle But Maybe Not Tweets, Sim Guru Frost, recently posted a very simple message, saying: ?Garden Salad? in a thought bubble. Of course, Sim Guru Frost insists he was just thinking about salad (which happens to be a recipe in The Sims 4), but is that ever the case with this game?
You might also recall that there was the mystery of the Chef Pig, a prominent figure which frequently made an appearance on Sim Guru George’s timeline last year.
Most assumed that it was something related to The Sims 4 Star Wars: Journey to Batuu pack, but what if it was not? After all, Sim Guru Ninja was talking about his dog called Porkchop being a ham recently. Okay, okay, that might be reaching even by our standards.
Let’s get serious for a second and look at the descriptions of the items that came with the Paranormal Stuff Pack. There’s more to dig into than just food-related things, but for this article, we’ll focus only on food or cooking related things.
As we have seen many times before, including with the most recent pack, the Sims team do love dropping a few hints – sometimes not even subtle – at what might be coming up. The Snowy Escape Expansion Pack included the Paranormal Plates, seriously. Not subtle.
While we all know Dine Out is in desperate need of an update, and these might just be hinting at a huge overhaul for that pack, maybe there will be a free base game update in celerbation of the game’s crown birthday as well as a fix all the Dine Out troubles.
Let us present some evidence from the Paranormal Pack descriptions.
Aunt Blanche (as in to blanche something) is mentioned in the Great Auntie’s Desk. Side note, Aunt Blanche was also a character in the TV show called The Corner Bar.
The Curiously Constructed Fireplace makes a big deal about peanut butter and pickle sandwiches while the Ectocake makes mention of “creating recipes with what is at hand”.
There is also the Amuse-Bouche Cowplant Terrarium, otherwise known as the mini cowplant. Amuse-bouche is a bite-sized hors d’?uvre which can come in many different forms. Obviously, this could just be very, very clever copywriting. Full-size cowplants have a big appetite and can eat Sims whole? you know? But come on. Who is going to be this clever for nothing?
The Spectres in Paranormal Stuff also leave behind an Unassuming Candy Jar, which is probably just a few sweet treats, but when we’re on the speculation train, there’s no stopping us.