The Sims 4 is one of my all-time favorite games, but I'd be lying if I claimed to enjoy it as much without any mods. Each time EA drops new DLC, whether it be a kit or a full-blown expansion pack, I grab my wallet and shamelessly pay up. I'm the proud owner of every single Sims 4 release to date - but it's never enough. There's always something missing, and as the community knows very well, EA doesn't always give us what we want. It seems like after a decade of unanswered requests, though that's finally changing with the arrival of Lovestruck: EA's spiciest expansion pack yet.
From the return of some of The Sims 2's greatest hits like turn-offs and turn-ons to the DLC's accompanying free base game update, so many new features have come to the game all at once that I genuinely don't feel the need to supplement with any Sims 4 mods. That's a big deal for me - in the decade I've spent playing the most recent Sims entry, I've spent countless hours sifting through custom content and mods to recreate the joy I used to feel with the series' older games.
A whole new world
If it wasn't for Lovestruck and the "total mess" of an update that dropped alongside it, forcing me to disable my CC and mods, I may never have discovered that I love The Sims 4 as it is. But it happened, and I did: I'm obsessed with the little things like curved pools, eyelashes, and polyamory - all features that I previously needed fan-created content to have. Create-A-Sim has also never felt better, thanks to the quick copy tool. What used to take me ages is just a click away.
The new "relationship" category, available while interacting with Sims, is also brilliant - it's like EA incorporated some of the most popular interface and interaction-based mods, giving the base game's pie menu a breath of much-needed fresh air. I can conveniently ask Sims to be my own Sims' best friends, romantic lovers, WooHoo partners, or any other relationship label known to man - and more importantly, other Sims can do the same.
I've waited years for non-player Sims to be more autonomous, to take the lead while with my Sims, and now they do. I regularly encounter prompts from NPCs while I play, including everything from date requests to Sims asking to move in together. My Sims also get invited to places far more often than before and are asked for all sorts of things - notably, my Sim seems to attract plenty of calls to exercise as well as recurring rants from hungry vampires looking to score some grub. It's fun, it's silly, it's perfect - the chaotic Sims experience many longtime fans fondly remember from the series' past games.
Leeb, leefuh, lurve
While the free update boasts various much-needed additions and changes, Lovestruck itself is nothing to scoff at. If things like NPCs' heightened autonomy and a more diverse range of relationship options are the foundation, then the expansion pack is the luxurious love-filled building atop it. Sims feel more like people than ever before with Lovestruck - The Sims 2's chemistry system is back with new turn-ons and turn-offs, relationship dynamics are here to spice situations up, and there are so many interactions to choose from that I never get bored.
Want your Sims to cuddle together in bed? No cold, hard pose pack necessary - it's an actual interaction now that counts towards your Sims' relationship level. Want Sims to go on dates but don't want to simply "roleplay" what they're going out to do in your head? No problem, as the new date-planning menu lets you customize everything from activities to venues. After all, Cupid's Corner, the fully functional dating app for Sims, ensures that Sims will never be lonely again - whether they swipe right on Shrek or some other gallery-made hottie.
The Sims 4 isn't just my virtual dollhouse anymore - the "dolls" are well and truly alive. Their needs also aren't merely physical like they used to be, and I'm so here for it. Having to focus on elements like Sim satisfaction within relationships on top of the base social need is stressful, but in the most wonderful way - I don't, I can't, play on the highest speed setting as I did before Lovestruck. There's way too much to keep track of, and it's the sort of everything-at-once chaos my ADHD-riddled brain craves. I always have something to do or some goal to work toward, even while running a household with just one active Sim.
So thank you, Lovestruck - you've restored my long-lost love for The Sims. It took over a thousand bucks and many lengthy nights of downloading mods to get to the one expansion pack that would rekindle the Sims-shaped flame in my heart, but it's burning brighter than ever before. I don't even feel the urge to play The Sims 2 or 3, let alone re-enable my CC and mods. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some Cupid's Corner matches to meet up with and spontaneous romantic rendezvous at shady motels to spectate.
