A Sim reaching out to a ghost dog in the new The Sims 4 update

Massive The Sims 4 Update Paves the Way for Life and Death Expansion

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Published: October 23, 2024 9:02 AM

EA has released a massive new The Sims 4 update ahead of a new expansion that's due to arrive next week, and the update brings lots of new spooky goodies including new death reactions, ghost creation, and more.

The Sims 4's latest expansion Life and Death is set to launch on Halloween (because of course it is), and a free update has been released ahead of that launch to prepare The Sims 4 for a spooky time.

First up, Sims can now react to other Sims' deaths "based on traits and relationships", so you might see your Sim weeping for the death of a loved one, for instance, or even "retching at a stranger's death". Charming.

Two Sims and the Grim Reaper standing near a dead Sim in the new The Sims 4 update
A new The Sims 4 update is here, and it's all about death, ghosts, and other spooky things.

You can now create Ghost Sims during the Create a Sim process, and once a Sim has passed on, they'll become a Ghost Sim with a new set of needs including the likes of "Goo Waste", "Spooky Diversions", and "Apparition Cleansing".

If a Sim that's married to another Sim dies, they'll be widowed, but the Sims can ask to stay married in order to reinstate their marriage status if you wish them to. 

Perhaps most importantly, per the patch notes, "Sims can WooHoo with the Grim Reaper again", so all you freaky The Sims 4 players who've been wanting to show Death how you really feel, this one's for you.

Tons of other changes have been made as part of this update, so you can read the full patch notes here if you want to know everything that's changed.

This update comes not long after an announcement regarding the Sims franchise's future back in September, wherein EA revealed that it had no plans for The Sims 5 anytime soon.

Instead, The Sims 4 will continue to be supported and updated with regular patches like this one, as well as expansions like Life and Death and new Creator Kits made by community figures.

You can check out The Sims 4 right now for free on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Naturally, it's also playable on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S thanks to the wonders of backwards compatibility.


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More Info About This Game
Learn More About The Sims 4
Game Page The Sims 4
Developer
Maxis
Publisher
EA
Release Date
September 2, 2014 (Calendar)