In the coming weeks, The Sims 4 will make an announcement on the game’s tenth expansion pack. We have no firm idea of what that pack might be, although we know that it will not involve cars, babies or bunk beds.
Overall, we still believe that a winter vacation pack is the front runner, but we have been looking back at some surveys by EA in the past, to get a sense of what sort of packs the team pondered before.
In the early days following the release of The Sims 4, there were multiple surveys about possible future content for the game.
While the winter vacation theme recurred frequently (one of the many reasons we are touting this as an option), another interesting concept made an appearance a few times.
We know that the Sims 4 team have said that the return of the burglar NPC is something they are ?constantly thinking about?. The Sims 4 Get To Work expansion brought with it the active detective career where Sims can solve crimes.
Earlier Sims 4 survey expanded on a more nuanced concept along the same lines and we are exploring those themes and seeing what additions to gameplay have been made that could make some of these ideas possible.
Sims 4 expansion pack concept: Crime & justice
The description below was part of an early survey for future Sims 4 content.
Make a difference in your Sims? town – clean up the streets with the new District Attorney career and organize neighbourhood improvement projects, OR indulge a life of crime and greed growing an underground criminal organization that deals in black market goods and smuggling contraband. Pick your side in this world of Crime and Justice.
This description and concept is intriguing since the law career came with the Discover University expansion pack.
Additionally, the concept of cleaning up or letting the Sim neighbourhoods is something that can be directly influenced by Sims in the Eco Lifestyle expansion.
Island Living introduced a similar style of gameplay where Sims can clean up Sulani and see it change.
The framework to make decisions and influence an outcome in a specific neighbourhood exists already. Since implementation of such features can take a long time, especially if it is essential to gameplay, this concept makes for intriguing reading.
It is some way off the slightly wayward ?leak? of the Murder at the Manor expansion ? something we think is unlikely ? there are some synergies between the two concepts.
Additionally, a version of the picking a side and smuggling gameplay came with the recently released Sims 4 Star Wars: Journey to Batuu game pack.
Sims 4 expansion concept: Heroes and villains
Tying in with the overall concept of a crime and justice idea, heroes and villains was also touted as an option. A lot of this will also feed off the Sims 4 Star Wars game pack’s frame work.
The brief concept for what sort of approach a Sims 4 heroes and villains pack might look like follows form the older surveys.
Secret identities, super powers, and spandex combine to create Super Sims! Fight crime, change the world around you with telekinetic powers, or manipulate your friends and enemies with mind control.
Both of these concepts feature the ability the change the world Sims live in. Something, as we already mentioned, is possible now.
The addition of mind control manipulation is intriguing since that featured in the latest Sims 4 Star Wars pack to some degree. There is certainly a clear line between the heroes and villains in that game pack.
Both descriptions would also work with some of the kleptomaniac elements introduced by the Eco Lifestyle pack as well as some of the ?pick pocketing? features added by the Sims 4 Star Wars: Journey to Batuu pack.
Actually, you know what? on second thought? we just wonder if we might change our mind on which concept is the frontrunner for the new Sims 4 expansion pack set to be announced in the coming weeks.