Sims News Round-up: August 27th-September 10th

The Sims collectively, considering both mobile and PC iterations, hummed along dutifully predetermined tracks these past few weeks. As summer in the western hemisphere lurched into an unofficial autumn, The Sims as a franchise delivered few surprises as a whole. The Sims FreePlay plugged along with its regularly scheduled Inner Child’s Play treehouse quest and introduced the new School’s out live event. The Sims Mobile Game Changers unveiled new purchasable packs, two new Wumples quests, and an unexpected pair of free offerings to celebrate the new Sims 4: Journey to Batuu game pack, which released September 8th. It is, presumably, the quiet before the storm, a lull in groundbreaking news before the holiday season arrives. Fresh news is most assuredly on the horizon.

The SIms FreePlay

​FreePlay wrapped up its latest Sim Chase only to dip back into a fan-favorite quest: Inner Child’s Play. This quirky quest guides the player through an adorable storyline involving a child’s birthday party, a semi-helpful but fabulously dressed witch, and a hapless friend named Crystal, who struggles to wrangle a houseful of hungry children. The player earns a treehouse for completing this quest, a prize that players can use for both adults, teens, and preteens.

Most notably, FreePlay began its fresh live event: School’s Out. During this event, the player makes mountains of craftable materials such as pottery, glassware, jewelry, and candles. The player trades these items for various themed prizes. During “School’s Out,” players earn prizes like school desks, science lab stations, new flooring, brightly colored school doors, vending machines, a principal’s desk, and far more. As a grand prize, Simmers earn a fully built, full furnished school building.  FreePlayers can stay tuned for the return of “Mean Curls,” which repopulated into the game September 9th, and the newest Sim Chase, which begins September 15th.

The Sims Mobile

On August 25th, Sims Mobile Game Changers confirmed what mobile Simmers witnessed earlier as a leak: the introduction of the newest Sweet Treat Showdown — Cultured Kitchen. Beginning August 31st, this event offered mobile players various kitchen accoutrements such as new counters, islands, womenswear, bread loaves, and similar clutter material. The grand prizes for successfully opening all prize boxes are a countertop pizza oven, a seriously smart fridge, and cutely curled side style for women.

Game Changers also churned out news about two new purchasable packs. The first pack, Kitchen Essentials, popped September 5th for $7.99 USD. It included:

• Frothing Mad Milk Jug
• Clean it Tomorrow Stack
• Good as Gourd Vase
• Triple Hanging Shelves
• Circular End Table
• Glass a Day Wine Rack
• 7K Simoleons

 The highly anticipated Labor of Love pack will trigger for players September 16th. Costing $9.99, the pack offers:

• Labor of Love Uniform 
• Gutsy Gumboots
• Rolled Up Tee 
• Appropriately aproned Outfit 
• Plaited and Proud Braids 
• Funky Framed Glasses 
• 9K Simoleons 
  

Furthermore, Wumples #36 and #37 also dropped. In return for a grueling five day to-do list, Wumples the bunny offers Simmers the Very Voguish Vase and the Perfect Perfume on September 6th, and the Sitting and Staring doll alongside the Forget me Knit plush doll on September 21st.

Finally, with just days before the release of Sims 4: Journey to Batuu, Sims Mobile offered its players two free Star Wars themed packs. The first, an adorable stuffed version of The Child, affectionally deemed “Baby Yoda,” was actually a rerun of the earlier May 4th offering. The second pack featured a dancing DJ R-3X, a droid-shaped stereo. It also offered two lightsaber wall lights in six different colors.​

The Sims 4

Plagued by the stalwart discontent of their players, the Sims 4 developers were relatively quiet these two weeks. The overall reception for their newest Star Wars pack has been mixed, with many well-known Game Changers openly mocking the move as “niche” at best and foolishly timed at worst. The franchise rolled toward the release date with little fanfare, not even a guru-led livestream, and it quietly released September 8th without a hitch.

Sim Guru Lyndsay took to Twitter once more to address player grievances, assuring them that although babies, drivable cars, and farming will not be in the upcoming expansion pack, that change, good change, is coming. Devs announced weeks ago, of course, that improved skin tones would enter the game this fall in a patch. With the holidays coming up, Maxis is also due to release a brand new expansion pack. Players have already begun to speculate on the contents.

That’s all for now, but change is in the air, friends. Keep it locked here for more Sims news!

Stay safe, love your loved ones, and happy Simming.