The Sims 4 Announces Growing Together Expansion Pack
It has been an exciting week for many Sims players, especially those who prefer the family gameplay of The Sims 4.
First, the long-awaited Infant update, which will add a new life stage between Newborns and Toddlers, will finally drop on March 14th.
The Infants will be able to be created and modified in Create a Sim with a wide range of clothes, accessories, and hairstyles. Sims can also adopt Infants like they could adopt Newborns, Toddlers, and Children. Similarly to Newborns, Sims can change diapers and put the Infant down for naps; however, unlike Newborns, Infants can express needs, emotions, and sentiments with other Sims.
This wasn’t the only thing The Sims 4 team announced this week, as they dropped a trailer for their next expansion pack called Growing Together, which will be released two days after the Infant update on March 16th.
Of course, a new expansion pack comes with a new world named San Sequoia, a coastal region by the ocean bay. The world features a lot of outdoor, open space for family gatherings and for Children Sims to play. San Sequoia is divided into three neighborhoods: Anchorpoint Wharf, Gilbert Gardens, and Hopewell Hills.
Other places for your Sims to experience include an urban park for biking (which also includes Children's Bikes) and hiking, a public playground, a movie theater, a pier with several restaurants, a library, and a new water park.
This expansion pack will also expand on the new Infants. They will have milestones highlighting how your Sims’ Infant is growing up as they explore the world around them. There will also be several new objects for Infants to interact with, such as changing tables, infant playmats, and infant carriers that allow you to take the Infant outside of the household and be much more manageable when traveling.
Infants will also be given 18 new discoverable quirks to shape their personalities. Each Infant will be allowed three quirks to feel wholly unique from each other. Some quirks include Self-Soother, Early Rise, Messy Eater, Frequently Hiccoughs, Gassy, Good Appetite, Snuggly Sleeper, Happy Spitter, Free Air Tinkler, and more yet to be announced.
In addition, to make Pregnancies feel more special in The Sims 4, this expansion pack will add a new event for a Baby Shower.
A big draw for this pack is that it provides more content for age groups other than the new Infants, such as Elders, Children, and Toddlers.
Elder Sims can now power walk, do puzzles at the recreation center, and be the caretakers of the Family Keepsake Box. They can also give life lessons, reminisce on good times, sneak treats, and even have favorite grandchildren, as one of this pack's biggest draws is more complicated family dynamics.
Toddlers are getting a similar upgrade to Infants as they will now have 18 different Toddler quirks in addition to their one personality trait. Some of these quirks are Aggressive, Picky Eater, Early Riser, Little Singer, Good Appetite, Loves Water, Hates Bedtime, Loves Being Carried, and others yet to be announced.
However, one of the most significant expansions is to the Child life stage of the Sims. The children's Sims will have four new aspirations to go along with the current four they have in the game. These new aspirations are Slumber Party Animal, Mind and Body, Playtime Captain, and Creative Genius.
Many new objects will go along with these aspirations, such as treehouses, splash pads, bicycles, sleeping bags, and friendship bracelets. This also comes with a new event to plan for Slumber Parties.
In addition to the Character Value system introduced in The Sims 4: Parenthood game pack, a new Child Confidence System will help shape the Child Sim's growth. To show the Child Sims aging physically, they will now also be able to lose baby teeth.
As mentioned previously in the Infants section of this article, Sims will now have a milestone system put in place not just for Infants but for the entire life cycle of the Sims, which shows the growth of a Sims to a player.
Some of these milestones include overcoming a career obstacle, getting let go of a job, having a midlife crisis, having certain family members move in, and more yet to be announced.
Another new system being added to this expansion pack is a Social Compatibility system, which leads to deeper, more personalized relationships between Sims. Some may be joking around with a sim while others might be competitive. This will also come with a family tree update to reflect these more complicated relationships, which impact family dynamics.
On March 3rd, The Sims team will host a live stream to showcase the Infants update and the Growing Together Expansion pack. Those who order the expansion pack between February 2nd and April 27th will receive an additional swing set, toddler slide, and infant carrier.
