Sims 4 Dream Home Decorator + Free Base Game Update Overview!

Sims 4 developers released a truckload of new information about the upcoming Dream Home Decorator game pack during a Tuesday afternoon livestream.

The Game Pack, releasing June 1st, will introduce a smattering of Create-a-Sim items, a slew of Build/Buy assets, and a succulent array of gameplay for any Simmer to sink their teeth into.

Dream Home Decorator and its accompanying Free Base Game Update (the latter of which will trigger in game May 27th), will bring:

• ​Likes and Dislikes (Base Game)
• Sectionals and an auto-sofa function (Game Pack)
• Modular Furniture (Game Pack)
• A New Interior Design Career (Game Pack)
• New hair colors (Base Game)
• New Kitchen decor (Game Pack)
• Improved bunkbeds (Base Game)

Create-a-Sim Overview

Dream Home Decorator is admittedly quite light on fresh Sim digs. As usual, adult female Sims enjoy the lion’s share of the new items: fashionable tops, bottoms, and overalls in which any designer wouldn’t mind getting adorably dirty.

Four new casual hairs are also on the menu for this highly-anticipated pack: two textured looks, a longer hair, and a braided-halo.

Masculine Sims have a few loose-fitting patterned shirts, some overalls, a “utili-kilt” and a couple of simple new hairs to enjoy..

Toddlers have received a similarly patterned top in which to make enormous paint messes.

Likes and Dislikes

Perhaps the biggest news by far was that of Likes and Dislikes. This change, coming to all players in a free Base Game Patch, will completely change the way Sims interact with each other, they manner in which they experience moodlets, how they fill or deplete their fun bars, and even what they choose to do autonomously.

Players can choose up to 20 likes and dislikes to pop onto their unsuspecting Sims. A Sim can have a preference for a certain kind of decor, specific activities, and even certain colors! These preference will affect the way the Sim experiences their world.

If a particular Sim “hates cooking” for example, they will never autonomously cook, will earn a “tense” moodlet while
cooking, and the act of cooking will deplete their fun. The then crabby Sim can complain to others about cooking, steadily spreading their hatred and general malcontent about the activity.

While a player may choose Likes and Dislikes in Create-a-Sim, they can also discover Likes and Dislikes during game play. When a Sim is enjoying some activity in real-time, the game will prompt the player to add the activity to their “Likes.”

Build/Buy Overview

Naturally, Build-Buy mode is stuffed with sleek, simple, stunning modular furniture. While many Simmers expected modular seating and sectionals, they may not have expected the beautifully modern storage pieces, entertainment systems, and closet items folded into this pack.

Build/Buy mode is an absolute triumph in this Game Pack. Filled with furniture, clutter, updated bunkbeds, and fresh ways to connect and dissect items, Dream Home Decorator is a bespoke builder’s fever dream.

Players will be able to stack and slot separate pieces together to make greater, larger units. Once the separate pieces have snapped together, they can move as one for renovation ease. Players can even select chunks of their masterpiece to move about all in the spirit of rearrangement.

This phenomenon is perhaps best illustrated with the new “auto-sofa” feature, which works much like “auto-counter.” Simmers will be able to click the gear widget while selecting a certain sofa style, and this will pop open the many sofa variants available. A given sofa can become a chaise, an ottoman, an accent chair, a curved end-piece, and more! Players can mix and match the separate pieces for a truly unique sofa experience or use the smaller parts alone!

If this were not enough, this pack is crammed full with clutter. Shoe clutter, modern art pieces, empty shoe box clutter, adorable stone llamas, and variable clothes racks all collide in this pack to make any space look fully livable.

Kitchens received two new counter sets, two stand-alone stovetops, and two counter top stoves to increase variability in kitchen builds.

Game Play

The newest career coming with the Dream Home Decorator pack is, of course, interior designer.

During this gig-based career, Sims will take on jobs ranging from single room renovations to large-scale commercial redesigns. The more difficult and lucrative gigs will unlock with player designer experience and reputation.

Once the player chooses a gig, they can report to the job (the NPC’s home) at the allotted time.

After arriving at the client’s home, the designer Sim must get to know the client. This means gaining a real understanding of their Likes and Dislikes through a series of conversation prompts. As the player Sim becomes more experienced in the designer career, they will become more adept at these conversations, earning new prompts and discovering client preferences faster.

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The Designer Sim should take into account the client’s Likes and Dislikes when remodeling the home.

The game will also prompt the player to take “before” photos of the client’s abode after sending the client away. After the renovation is complete, players will take “after” photos, which are shown alongside the “before” photos in design-television-esque montage during the “reveal event.”

When the player is ready, they can enter build/buy mode to renovate the space to their heart’s content (while remaining in-budget of course.)

Sims can self-interact or use the phone to call the client back to their home. This triggers a “reveal event,” during which the client will close their eyes and “check out this object” on newly placed furniture. They’ll stumble around with their eyes covered, peer at the newly placed items, and then offer their judgement when the time is right.

The client Sim will openly react to items that please or displease them. The pictured Sim dislikes “mixology,” so placing that over-budget bar in his living room was probably a bad idea.

At long last, the client will either express their approval or disapproval of the renovation. This act will permanently affect the designer’s reputation, the player’s Sim will get paid, and the job is done!

Keep it locked here for more insights on what to expect, asset swatches, and more detailed walkthroughs as we edge closer to this pack’s release date.